Rogue trader who 'bullied' lone woman sent to prison

Blain Furlong threatened to smash tiles on the roof if the woman, who lived alone, did not pay

A rogue trader who "bullied" a homeowner into replacing her entire roof, costing thousands of pounds, has been jailed.

The work carried out by Blain Furlong, 34, at the home in Long Ashton was found to be "abysmal... and well below the minimum industry standard".

Furlong, from Salisbury, was sentenced to 13 months in prison last week after pleading guilty to fraud charges in October.

Director of public health and regulatory services at North Somerset Council, Matt Lenny, said: “This really was a shocking case. The offender used bullying tactics to frighten the victim into paying a large sum for work that was shoddily done and, in fact, almost totally unnecessary."

An investigation by North Somerset Council's trading standards found Furlong had been carrying out gardening work for the resident in January 2022, when he noticed a small leak in the property's porch roof.

He then persuaded the homeowner, who lived alone, that a major roof replacement was needed on the entire bungalow and claimed to have access to qualified professionals who could do the job.

Once the work began, Furlong became "increasingly abusive" as he pressured the woman into paying £9,500 for materials upfront, claiming the roofers would abandon the site if the money went unpaid.

An inspection revealed "abysmal" work had been carried out on the roof

At one point, Furlong threatened to smash all of the tiles on the roof.

Upon inspection, a trading standards inspector found the work to be done "with little skill and understanding of roofing works".

The expert's opinion was that the original roof and tiling were "in a serviceable and well-maintained condition", and "only required some localised repair".

They also said the resident faced an additional cost of about £9,000 to rectify Furlong's botched work.

Furlong pleaded guilty to two charges under the Fraud Act and two further charges laid under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations at Bristol Crown Court.

Sentencing Furlong, the judge said his "conduct was very serious" and that these types of cases "were devastating to the householder".

Furlong was jailed for a total of 42 months, which included 29 months for two other non-related offences.