Rogue builder jailed after overcharging by £10,000

The rogue trader's work cost £13,800

A builder has been jailed after overcharging for "shoddy" work by £10,000.

Alexander Brewis, 42, charged an elderly customer £13,800 for work in a bathroom, which Middlesbrough Council trading standards officers said was worth about £3,250.

Brewis, trading as Storm Roofing and Property Maintenance, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud.

Middlesbrough Council said the work was finished to a "very poor standard"

The work was carried out in Middlesbrough in 2019 and 2020 at the home of a customer described by trading standards officers as "vulnerable".

They discovered Brewis had originally quoted for clearing out the householder's guttering, but "that quickly spiralled".

"Work was then left incomplete, or finished to a very poor standard, for an inflated price, leaving the property in a state of unsafe disrepair," a council spokesperson said.

The authority's head of public protection, Judith Hedgley, said: "This despicable crime highlights how vulnerable consumers are being targeted by unscrupulous traders.

“Such crimes can have a devastating impact both on the state of the property, requiring immediate remedial action, and on the individuals concerned."

Follow BBC Tees on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].