ROGUE roofers and builders from Burnley and Pendle who profited by more than £100,000 while scamming vulnerable pensioners with by carrying out dodgy house repairs will have to repay next to nothing.

Ringleader James McCool, was said to have reaped £62,591 from his part of the con, as he persuaded OAPs to have unnecessary work carried out on their homes.

He would also drive his victims to cash machines on occasion so they could pay him in cash for the ‘shoddy’ jobs.

Donald Holgate, who was tricked by McCool and persuaded to hand over a huge sum, had his personal details handed over to another conman, Gujamil Din, who took him for another £9,700.

But McCool, Din, along with accomplices Jake Ashworth and Eamon Fagan, were found to have no realisable assets when they appeared for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Burnley Crown Court.

Fagan’s benefit was £21,700, and Din’s and Ashworth’s £9,740 each - but all four had to pay only a nominal £1 after investigators declared they had no property or cash interests to be recovered.

A former MP has condemned the outcome and urged police to keep a close eye on the gang’s activities in future.

McCool, 35, from Leamington Street, Nelson, who is also a convicted burglar and robber, has served at least one jail term before for high-pressure tactics on customers.

In March, he was jailed again for 40 months after being described as the prime mover in stings involving elderly residents across East Lancashire.

Prosecutors said that Mr Holgate, from Burnley, later told trading standards officials how the experience had a “devastating effecton me and my self-esteem”, ruining his trust in other people.”

Din, then 31, of Claughton Street, Burnley, was jailed for 12 months, Ashworth, then 22, of Railway Street, Nelson, was given an eight-month suspended prison term and Fagan was also convicted of the same fraud.

Speaking after the case, former Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle said: “I think it’s absolutely outrageous that these old people have been ripped off and these men have got away with only having to repay £1, having nothing to show for all that money.“These people will have paid out in cash for the repairs rather than handing over cheques or paying by credit cards. It’s disgraceful behaviour.”

Robert Elias, prosecuting, said there were still outstanding proceedings involving two other men, including McCool’s van driver Michael Byker, whose benefit figure was £27,400.

Byker, then 35, of Garnet Street, Nelson, who was also given a suspended prison sentence, will have his assets examined further, amid a dispute over the ownership of a Transit van.

Another fraudster, 47-year-old Neil Varley, from Barrowford, was said to have gained £13,700 though there remained a disagreement over a Vauxhall car, the court heard.

The financial proceedings involving a seventh man, Benjamin Raw, 34, of Dickson Street, Burnley, who was jailed for 10 months for the fraud, were dismissed.

Other victims included dementia sufferer Joan Robinson, in her 80s, from Clayton-le-Dale, who lost £11,700, and Sarah Farrimond, of Wigan, who parted with £7,100.0 and pensioner Edward Entwistle, who paid £6,150 for work estimated to be worth £250