Kent pair jailed for £1m building work swindle

The pair targeted elderly people across the South East and Cambridgeshire

Two Kent men have been jailed for conning elderly people out of £1m for costly and unnecessary building work.

Moses Mead, 25 and Christopher Latty, 38, targeted vulnerable people in Kent, London and Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire between 2007 and 2010.

Mead was jailed for four years after admitting 11 charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and false representation.

Latty, who admitted two counts of fraud and misrepresentation, was jailed for three years at Maidstone Crown Court.

Both men entered their pleas at an earlier hearing.

'Lost life savings'

One man, who was in his 60s and from Bexleyheath, was swindled into handing over £522,000 while an 82-year-old man from the Medway towns was tricked into paying the pair £230,000.

Mead, of Springfield Road, Northfleet, Gravesend, and Latty, of Victoria Street, Gillingham, were arrested in Cambridge in January following a Kent Police investigation.

Det Con Paul Walker said: "This was a lengthy and complex investigation that involved the gathering of evidence from across the south-east of the country from a large number of elderly and vulnerable victims, often in difficult and sensitive conditions.

"Many of the victims have lost their entire life savings and have been denied financial security in their twilight years because of one man's greed.

"All the victims were targeted due to their age and vulnerability in a most calculated and callous way.

"We will continue to work tirelessly to bring people who prey on the elderly and vulnerable like this to justice."