WCYT
A community interest company keeping vulnerable residents in Essex safe from rogue tradesmen and doorstep conmen
www.whocanyoutrust.org.uk
Payback time for rogue builder
A cowboy builder has been ordered to pay nearly a quarter of a million pounds back to the pensioners he conned.
Moses Mead, of Northfleet in Kent, reportedly conned around £800,000 from pensioners in London, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent and Hertfordshire.
Mead would approach his victims unannounced and claim that if urgent work wasn't undertaken on their home, it be at risk of collapsing. Fearful of the repercussions, the pensioners ended up paying Mead over the odds for work that was not needed.
The case highlights the need to seek out recommended builders and gather as many quotes as possible before taking on a tradesperson.
One such pensioner was an unnamed man in his sixties who ended up selling his Audi, a share portfolio and eventually his home to pay the £522,807 that Mead demanded. Another man had rudimentary brickwork repairs carried out but was charged a total of £232,000.
This, however, is not the only time Mead has been sentenced; having already been jailed in July 2010 for 11 fraud offences.
His partner in crime on the builds, Christopher Latty, was also said to have profited around £60,000 from the builds but due to a lack of funds was ordered to pay back the minimum amount of £1.
Prosecuting, Judge Joy said that it was "highly desirable" to get the compensation paid as soon as possible.
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