The Trading Standards Institute has honoured a mother from Cheshire because she regularly speaks out against loan sharks.

Carol Highton, 46, from Runcorn, began her campaign after her son committed suicide due to living in fear because of a loan shark wanted re-payments.

Highton helps a trading standards team that tracks down and prosecutes illegal lenders who prey on vulnerable people.

Carol’s son, Brian Shields, 22, hanged himself in 2005 in the attic of their home in Halton Brook because he was being hounded by such aggressive lenders.

During the recession, loan shark lending has increased dramatically, as debt-ridden families have nowhere else to turn:

Chris Leslie, from the New Local Government Network said: “There is evidence to suggest that the pernicious trend of illegal unsecured lending at extremely high rates of interest, or ‘loan sharking,’ is making a comeback.

He furthered: “The diminished availability of regulated sub-prime credit is creating conditions where a sizeable number of people have little option but to borrow from illegal sources. At least 165,000 people already use loan sharks in the UK and we can expect this number to rise sharply.”