Bogus builders charge man £37k for £3k roof fix

Tom Lee (left) and Freddy Young (right) were jailed for more than two years

Two rogue traders who charged £37,000 for roof repairs when the approximate cost was valued at just £3,000, have been jailed.

Tom Lee, 39, and Freddy Young, 27, repeatedly asked the householder – a man in his mid-60s – for various sums of money to carry out, what Lancashire Police deemed, "shoddy work" at his property in Crawshawbooth.

Preston Crown Court Sessions House heard that it was only when the man's bank contacted police that the fraud came to a halt.

Lee, of Lower Eccleshill Road, Darwen, and Young, of Baltimore Drive, St Helens, who pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation on 18 February, were jailed for two years and nine months, and two years and five months respectively.

'Loads of lemons'

The bank followed statutory banking protocol, having seen their customer withdrawing large sums of money in order to pay for the building work, the court heard

Police said voice notes recovered from Lee's phone included a contact of Lee talking about the victim, saying: "This job, love it Tom, absolutely love it. There's loads of lemons about."

The fraud began when two men – one of them being Lee - knocked on the victim's door and suggested work needed doing on his roof.

The pair handed him a leaflet bearing the name and contact details for Roofing Repair Specialists.

The men gave a verbal quote of £12,000 for the roof repairs, new PVC facias, soffits and gutters, in addition to £2,000 for scaffolding and £2,000 to cut down a tree next to the house.

They asked for £3,000 in cash straight away, which they suggested was to buy materials.

The victim paid them £400 in cash and subsequently withdrew £3,000 at the bank.

Lee and Young turned up at the house over the following few days, with the victim continuing to make payments.

After the bank contacted police, officers went to the house and found three men working there – Young and two others.

A fourth man, believed to be Lee, left prior to police arriving.

Water leaks

An expert witness examined the work they had carried out on the roof, valuing it at £3,000, even though the victim had paid out £37,000.

The witness described the work as "shockingly poor".

It cost £15,000 for the roof to be repaired properly after Lee's and Young's "botched work", police said.

At the sentencing hearing, the victim read a statement to the court which detailed how he had been left "without a watertight roof for about three months".

"There were water leaks in the attic which I tried to catch in buckets and saucepans, and water dripped from the upstairs light fittings.

"If there had been high winds, the roof would probably have blown off," his statement said.

Det Con Beth Turner, of Lancashire Police, said: "I welcome the prison sentences, which the judge and I hope sends out the message that offences of this nature will not be tolerated by the police and courts."