Fraudulent plumber's work 'a disgrace'

Brad Fairman received a 20 month suspended sentence and 160 hours community service

A judge told a plumber who defrauded at least a dozen people across south-west England the standard of his work was a "disgrace".

Brad Fairman, 26, of William Morris Way, Swindon, received a 20-month suspended sentence and 160 hours community service.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent trading.

Recorder of Bristol, Judge Peter Blair QC, said: "You fobbed people off and didn't provide what you promised."

Bristol Crown Court heard Fairman had defrauded victims between 2016 and 2019 using a variety of names, including Jack Plumb, and taking money for jobs that were never completed.

One customer paid Fairman £10,000 for a boiler that was never fitted. Another lost about £7,000 after having to get his work refitting her bathroom repaired by a different plumber.

'Bodger not cowboy'

He also gave numerous excuses for failing to carry out work, including that he had a brain tumour, that his tools had been stolen and that he had been involved in a biking accident, the court was told.

Defending, George Threlfall said most of Fairman's customers were satisfied with his work and claimed he was a "bodger rather than a cowboy".

They added that he did not have a "deeply-ingrained criminal personality" but was "in way over his head", taking on work he was not capable of doing".

The sentencing came after an investigation carried out by the National Trading Standards Regional Investigation Team (South West).

The judge told Fairman: "You secured work way beyond your ability to complete it. You should have stopped trading and refunded people.

"Customers had the misery of finding alternative traders to put right what you'd got wrong."

Fairman will also be subject to a curfew for the next three months.