IN tomorrow's edition of The Northern Echo, we report the case of illegal loan shark Desmond Cross who was spared jail by a judge at Teesside Crown Court.

Cross, 44, of Tudhoe Colliery, told the judge that he accepted he had broken the law but insisted that the 55 per cent interest he charged was fair.

And that says everything you need to know about the vile parasites who set themselves up as loan sharks.