A ROGUE roofer has been jailed after ripping off Warwickshire residents to the tune of £82,500.
Darren Bullaman Lee, of Gilfil Road, Hill Top, Nuneaton, was sentenced to two-and-a-half-years and handed an eight year Criminal Behaviour Order and an eight year director disqualification order.
It followed an investigation and prosecution by Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards.
The court heard 27 year-old Lee overcharged for work to the roofs of four householders that was largely unnecessary.
Lee would start with a low quote before finding more and largely fictitious ‘problems’ with the roofs he was working on to then charge extortionate amounts.
In one case a Leamington resident who called Lee out to look at a leaky gutter ended up paying him over £43,000.
The householder asked Lee to come out to look at a leak to his guttering, who maintained the cause of the problem was his tiles, and that scaffolding would need to be erected.
He then claimed the tiles were disintegrating and would need replacing together with rotten battens. Costs further escalated to include the removal of an asbestos roof on the garage which the resident was told would be done professionally – but was done without any specific protective measures taking place.
The homeowner eventually paid Lee £43,150.
Three of the victims found Lee on trustatrader.com where he was advertising as Your Choice Roofing based at The Crescent in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
The judge sentencing Lee at Warwick Crown Court, said his membership of a trusted trader scheme had given his victims ‘security and peace of mind’ such that Lee was able to convince them that work was needed on their properties, when in fact the work was ‘wholly unnecessary’.
Addressing Lee, he added this was ‘merely a device for you to get your hands on their money.’
The victims variously stated they felt depressed and conned and that Lee’s activities had had a significant impact on their family finances and mental health.
Mitigation heard in court related largely to Lee’s drug addiction that had led him into debt.
WCC community safety spokesman Coun Andy Crump said: “This is an appalling example of how a rogue trader took advantage of some very vulnerable Warwickshire residents to defraud them of over £82,000.”
“Rogue traders are warned that if they try to operate in Warwickshire, our Trading Standards Service will tackle them and bring them to court.”
* ANOTHER rogue roofer has pleaded guilty to defrauding a Kenilworth resident following an investigation by Warwickshire Trading Standards.
Louis William Gaskin, aged 20, of Windmill Lane, Balsall Common, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three offences, and will be sentenced on August 8.
Gaskin traded as Pitch Roofing Ltd, based at the same Spalding address in Lincolnshire as Lee’s company.
