Two rogue traders who charged a Rossendale homeowner £37,000 for roof repairs which were valued at £3,000 have been jailed.
Bogus builders Tom Lee and Freddy Young kept asking the householder – a man in his mid-60s – for varying amounts of money as they carried out the shoddy work at the property in Crawshawbooth.
Preston Crown Court Sessions House heard it was only when the man’s bank contacted police that the fraud was ended.
The bank had followed banking protocol, having seen their customer withdraw large amounts of money to pay for the work.
Voice notes recovered from Lee’s phone included a contact gloating about the fraud, stating: “This job, love it Tom, absolutely love it. There’s loads of lemons about.”
The fraud began when two men – one of them Lee - knocked on the victim’s door, saying work needed doing on his roof.
A leaflet was handed to him, carrying the name ‘Roofing Repair Specialists’.
The men gave a verbal quote of £12,000 for the roof repairs, new PVC fascias, soffits and gutters, £2,000 for scaffolding and £2,000 to cut down a tree next to the house.
Asking for £3,000 cash to buy material, the victim paid £400 cash that he had on him and then withdrew the amount at the bank.
Lee and Young turned up at the house over the following few days, with the victim making payments to them.
After the bank contacted police, officers went to the house and found three men working there – Young and two others.
A fourth man, believed to be Lee, left prior to police arriving.
An expert witness examined the work carried out on the roof, valuing it at £3,000, even though the victim had paid out £37,000.
Describing the work as ‘shockingly poor’, the roof had to be repaired after the fraudsters' work, which cost the victim another £15,000.
At the sentencing hearing, the victim read a statement to the court.
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He said: “After the incident involving Tom Lee and Freddy Young, I was left without a watertight roof for about three months.
“There were water leaks in the attic, which I tried to catch in buckets and saucepans, and water dripped from the upstairs light fittings.
"I was at the mercy of bad weather, wind and storms, and it snowed towards Christmas.
“Loads of rubbish was left on the front lawn, consisting of a pile of broken roof slates and rubble, making access very difficult.
“All the work done by Tom Lee and Freddy Young was shoddy and had to be removed before the new roofer could start.
"Some of the roof batons were not nailed down, and none of the roof tiles were nailed down.
“The edge tiles were not trimmed down properly, and there were no ridge tiles. If there had been high winds, the roof would probably have blown off.”
Lee, 39, of Lower Eccleshill Road, Darwen, and Young, 27, of Heys Lane, Oswaldtwistle, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.
On Tuesday, September 2, Lee was jailed for two years and nine months, and Young for two years and five months.
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