The leader of a gang of rogue builders who preyed on frail pensioners has been jailed for more than three years.
Johnny Carroll posed as a reputable roofer and builder with a range of apparently respectable companies when in reality he was a convicted fraudster on a suspended sentence for ripping off previous customers.
He led a gang of workers who toured the West Country and South Wales looking for gullible elderly customers who needed minor works done on their walls or roofs.
He quoted reasonable estimates but once his team was on site the price rocketed and the victims were bullied into handing over thousands of pounds.
In the space of 22 months he defrauded 21 pensioners out of £108,000, sometimes taking confused and frail customers to the bank to withdraw cash.
He charged one customer in Stokeinteignhead, South Devon, £13,350 for driveway work which was worth only £170 and took £12,650 from a woman in Cardiff by returning three times to do the same work on her roof.
The victims were almost all elderly or infirm. Two have died since giving video recorded interviews to police. At least one more has had to hand over their financial affairs to their family as a result of Carroll’s swindling.
He used eight different company names and often set up local telephone numbers for just long enough to rake in business from distributing fliers before he closed them down.
Carroll never gave customers their statutory rights to cancel and offered guarantees which he did not honour and were worthless because he changed his mobile number so often that nobody could trace him.
He channeled £79,000 through his own bank accounts until trading standards officers started to close in on him, when he recruited an unemployed teenager from Wales to launder money from him.
He got John Rice, who was just 18 at the time, to set up a bank account through which another £28,950 was channeled. Just £11,000 was left in it when it was frozen.
Carroll, aged 26, of Calcutt Park, Cricklade, Wiltshire, admitted a single count of fraud. John Rice, aged 21, of Ceri Road, Swansea, admitted two charges of money laundering.
Carroll was jailed for three years and two months and Rice for 12 weeks by Judge Mrs Justice May at Exeter Crown Court. Carroll was sentenced in his absence after claiming he was too ill to attend.
The judge said:"Work was overcharged and under performed. Cancellation rights were ignored, and guarantees were unsatisfactory, not least because Carroll used a variety of names, addresses, and mobile numbers.
"It meant he was uncontactable in the event of difficulties, as there often was because the work carried out was totally inadequate. Bearing in mind the age and vulnerability, the harm in this case is higher."
Mr Alan Fuller, prosecuting, said Carroll did not work alone but was the leader of a group who operated over a wide area. Even where he made no contact with victims, money went into his account.
He said:"He was the primary offender. The vast majority of the 21 victims were spoken to personally by him. From July 2012 to May 2014 he provided various building services.
"Even if the work was chiefly carried out by others, it was solicited by him. The work was badly executed and vastly overpriced. Customers were never given proper notice of their cancellation rights and he used false names and addresses.
"His telephone numbers were ever changing to ensure he could not be traced and so customers were left with no comeback, let alone any chance of claiming on the promised guarantees."
He said Carroll received a suspended sentence in July 2013 at Swansea Crown Court but carried on defrauding customers just as before.
Mr Nicholas Murphy, defending, said Carroll did carry out genuine work but had problems with paperwork and allowed things to get out of hand.
He said he is in poor health with suspected heart problems and has three children with another due in the next two weeks.
Miss Megan Glenhurst, for Rice, said he was only 18 when Carroll drew him into the plan. He had no control of the bank account and did not control the cash card which was used to take money out.
Crimes and victims.
July 2012 Llangynidr, S Wales. roofing, £2,650
October 2012, Portishead, couple aged 89, roofing, £4,250.
Oct 2012, old and frail pensioner, Bath, roofing, £5,000.
January 2013. elderly couple, Buckinghamshire, wall repairs £8,200.
April 2013, Stokeinteignhead, driveway, £13,350.
May 2013, Dawlish, roofing, £1,100.
June 2103, Brixham, roofing, £2,100.
June 2013, Tavistock, roofing, £7,000.
July 2013, Gunnislake, roofing, £1,750.
September 2013, Bristol, roofing, £3,600.
October 2013, Swansea, roofing, £12,650.
October 2013, Swansea, £4,150.
January 2014, Swansea, roofing, £5,250.
March 2014, Bristol, landscaping, £300.
March 2104, Bath, roofing, £6,950.
March 2014, Paignton, roofing, £2,850
March 2014, Newton Abbot, roofing, £9,500.
April 2014, Exeter, building work, £780.
April 2014, Newton Abbot, roofing, £500.
May 2014, Torquay, roofing, £1,050.
May 2014, Torquay, roofing, £1100.
Company names: Property Care, JW Contractors, Westfield Driveway, Westfield Rooflines, South West Trees and Landscapes, Torbay Roofing and Building,