THE British Government yesterday sent in the official receiver to take over a company selling a computer program that was billed as the answer to punter's dreams.

Far from being a sure fire winner finder, the £3,300 program made losses for the hundreds of purchasers. The whole concept was "based on a lie", a High Court judge said yesterday.

Mr Justice Carnwath granted an application by the Department of Trade and Industry which effectively means Comstrad Ltd, which has offices in London will no longer be able to sell their products and their assets have been seized.

The corn an will have to show at a full trial scheduled for next month why they should not be wound up "in the public interest".

The judge said there was no doubt that the company was profitable up to 40 "more gullible" people a week were buying the units in the hope of getting rich quick.

Since beginning trading this year, Comstrad took in £2.8 million in sales of Sequence XL, the racing programme, and were also marketing a £995 computer device called Quest 10 which it claimed could match up score draws for pools punteys.

But in a judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Carnwath said the company had made extravagant claims" about the programmes and their "track record".

He said promotional brochures described Sequence XL as a secure "investment programme", which if a punter had been using during the past year would have made £45,358 for a £500 investment.

"The brochure also contained a guarantee that if any losses were incurred in the first three months, the £500 starting investment would be reimbursed," said the judge. But there was "no provision" for this.

"This company was based on a lie. There was a basic lie in their business throughout," he said.

Tests carried out on the programme by the DTI showed a "uniformly bleak picture", added the judge.

There was a "sustained" loss of the initial £500 investment.

When purchasers began complaining to the company, they were told that the reason the programme was not functioning successfully was because of "adverse weather conditions" which had made the going soft on tracks.

Mr Justice Carnwath said the company argued that it was not right that a liquidator should be appointed to close down a "very profitable business".

But there was no prospect that they would have a viable business if it did not depend on a lie, and he was "wholely unpersuaded" by their plea.

A spokesman for the DTI said after the hearing that compensation for people who bought the programmes would depend on the outcome of the forthcoming trial.

∙ Kevin Darley reached his fourth consecutive century - also his fourth in all - when riding a treble at Redcar yesterday. Darley, who had started the afternoon on the 97 winner mark, achieved the 100 courtesy of victories aboard Priena, Dunrowan and Zaima.

. Willie Carson was moved from intensive care yesterday, a week to the day after suffering serious injury at Newbury. A spokeswoman for North Hospital in Basingstoke said this afternoon: "Mr Carson is satisfactory."