Jail for rogue builder who lied about Army service

Lee Paul Smith was prosecuted after a trading standards investigation

A rogue builder and landscaper who lied about his Army career to secure jobs has been jailed for defrauding his customers.

Lee Paul Smith took about £37,000 from eight customers for building and landscaping jobs but only carried out work for two of them, trading standards officers said.

Smith, 40, pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading after a Leicestershire County Council investigation.

He was sentenced to five years and 11 months in prison at Leicester Crown Court, sitting at the city's magistrates court, on Friday.

The council said Smith lied about his Army service to secure work from his victims

The county council said Smith, of Godwin Court, Wigston, Leicestershire, was the sole director of a limited company, H&L Building and Landscaping Ltd.

Smith and his company began to operate and quote for work between April 2020 and August 2020, advertising on Facebook, promotional boards outside properties or adverts in a magazine.

Trading standards said officers started an investigation after receiving a number of complaints about him.

Officials said Smith either did not start work his victims had paid for, or it was only partially completed.

The court was told that after paying money to Smith as a deposit for materials, most of the victims were given a series of excuses by Smith as to why work had not been started and which trading standards discovered to be untrue.

The council said Smith lied to his victims about his Army career, stating that he had served in Afghanistan to get his victims to agree to jobs.

However, inquiries with the Ministry of Defence confirmed Smith had been in the Army between 2003 and 2005 but had never served overseas during that time, and he was later discharged.

'Completely irreformable fraudster'

Matthew Rowcliffe, prosecuting, told the court that Smith had previous convictions for similar offences in Devon between 2010 and 2011.

Judge Rebecca Herbert said Smith was "a thoroughly dishonest man".

She told him: "You act with callous disregard for the property and wellbeing of other people.

"And in my judgement you lack all empathy for the distress you caused. There is little by way of mitigation that can be said for you.

"You have shown yourself over your adult life to be a completely irreformable fraudster."

Smith was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.