Chimney sweep jailed for £30k fraud

Adam Reid, of Dorset Road, Bexhill, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of fraud last month

A chimney sweep from East Sussex who admitted defrauding trusting customers out of nearly £30,000 has been jailed for 30 months.

Adam Reid, of Dorset Road, Bexhill, pleaded guilty to 19 counts of fraud last month, having been charged in April.

The 40-year-old, who ran Safe Chimney Sweep in Bexhill, conned 23 victims who trusted him to carry out work on their chimneys, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Charges were brought after Sussex Police opened a fraud investigation centred around 19 alleged victims between November 2022 and February 2025.

Speaking during sentencing, Judge Stephen Mooney said: "You regularly returned to customers who trusted you and you lied and you cheated and you kept doing it time and time and time again until inevitably you were caught."

Prosecutor Rachel Beckett said Reid, once "reliable", began defrauding customers by taking new bookings and not carrying out the work.

She said: "His financial situation had become troubled by gambling heavily and becoming involved in drugs."

Ms Beckett added that Reid would make excuses for not attending booked jobs, and then rebuff efforts made by victims to get a refund.

"Then [he] would end all contact," she added.

Reid was arrested in October 2024 when he failed to install two log burners after taking a payment of £2,400, admitting he had never sourced them.

Victim David Roderick said he had used Reid to clean his chimney for 10 years.

He paid £1,600 for a new wood burning stove which never arrived.

Mr Roderick said: "I trusted him. The day came, he didn't show. He said he couldn't pay me back because he had money problems."

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