Lancaster roofer ordered to use home equity to pay £40k to victims

George Austin persuaded the woman to have work done that did not need doing

A roofer who scammed people out of more than £50,000 has been ordered to "use the equity in his house" to reimburse those he targeted, a council has said.

George Austin, of Lancaster, was jailed in March after charging a woman who was grieving for her mother £25,000 for work that should have cost £300.

Lancashire County Council said he also took £18,500 to fix a leak and tried to get £5,500 for an unnecessary repair.

It said he must now "pay back £40,500 of his bogus gains" to four victims.

A council representative said the prosecution of the 37-year-old had followed an "investigation into consumer complaints" received by its Trading Standards Service.

They said the authority had already begun "confiscation proceedings" before Austin was jailed "in a bid to make him repay the losses suffered by his victims".

'Great result'

They said the four people he targeted were all retired and included "a recently bereaved woman and a disabled man".

"In one case, Austin took £25,000 for work that a surveyor said was worth no more than £300, then disappeared when his victim refused to give him a further £5,000," they said.

"In another, he took £18,500 for work on a fibreglass roof to fix a leak.

"The work was poor, overcharged, and the leak had apparently not been touched."

They said Austin also "took money from a very ill man" for a back door he never delivered and "tried to obtain £5,500 from a retired woman, claiming that a new re-roof was needed, when her existing roof was of excellent quality".

They added that a judge at Preston Crown Court had ruled that Austin "must use the equity in his house to pay back £40,500 of his bogus gains to the four victims involved".

Speaking after the confiscation award, councillor Michael Green said it was a "great result".

"As well as seeing justice done, we are pleased that our efforts have provided more than £40,000 of financial recompense," he said.

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