Rogue trader, 23, scammed elderly couple out of £10k with roof 'worse than DIY'
A rogue trader scammed a pensioner couple out of more than £10,000 and left them with a "shoddy" incomplete roof.
Kyle Stafford, 23, was hired by the victim in his 70s and his wheelchair-using wife to replace the roof of their bungalow in Leyland. They found him after enquiring on the website Bark.com to supply a quote.
On July 15, 2022, a man visited their home and quoted them £6,800 for a complete re-roof of the property. He went by the name 'Kyle or Karl' and issued them a document headed KS Roof Repair, which cited the fee. But after he began the work, he "took his victims for a ride", increased the fee and demanded the entire amount to be paid upfront.
Preston Crown Court heard that two days later, he visited the property and began work but the couple became suspicious after they overheard him being called Charlie by the labourers on site. Whenever the name Kyle was used, they appeared to be speaking about someone else, Clare Larton, prosecuting, told the court.
Over four days, a team of between three and six men worked on the project. They arrived in a van with 'KS Roofing' livery and placed a board with the business name at the end of the couple's driveway. One of the workers also wore a polo shirt, bearing the company logo.
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However a day into the work, the man who had introduced himself as Kyle visited the bungalow and told the homeowner the joists needed additional strengthening - at an additional cost of £4,000. The homeowner felt he had no choice but to pay, as the tiles had been removed from the roof and he wanted the work completed to a decent standard, Ms Larton told the court.
The roofer only replaced new tiles (Lancs Live/MEN Media)
The builder vanished mid-way through work (Lancs Live/MEN Media)On July 21, 'Kyle' and a man called Sam returned to the house and asked for payment in full. The owner questioned this, as he had been informed no money would be handed over until the work was complete. However, the men were insistent until the man made several visits to his bank to withdraw the money from his savings account, reports Lancashire Live. The workers then packed up and left the site, without completing the work. The man tried to complain about the standard of work but had no success, so he reported the matter to Lancashire Trading Standards.
The company was listed with an address of Siddow Common, Leigh. However, the court heard there was no house number and mail later sent by Trading Standards was returned as undeliverable. An expert surveyor was called in to assess the job and found "a catalogue of shoddy and amateurish work that did not even meet the standard of a DIYer."
Despite handing over an additional £4,000 to replace the joists, the surveyor found all the joists on the roof were original and did not require strengthening. The surveyor also found that the tiles had not been nailed to the batons and the valleys were "so poor they beggared belief". Apart from £3,000 of roof tiles which had been provided by the company, the work was worthless, he concluded.
In a victim impact statement, the householder said: "After the incident with the roof repair specialist we have been very apprehensive about dealing with any tradespeople or when we want to buy items. I did not know how to approach people. We needed a new back door and were petrified about employing someone. We went to a reputable but expensive company for peace of mind." He said money has been tight since the incident and they have had to have the roof redone. A neighbour who works as a roofer carried out the work for a reasonable price, using the tiles left behind.
Stafford pleaded guilty to unfair trading and appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced. His barrister, Anthony Horsfall, said since the incident he has repaid the full amount taken from the couple, minus the cost of the tiles. He said Stafford was a qualified roofer who had built his own business, however in July 2022 was in the grips of cocaine addiction and was in no state to complete the work. He allowed others to take over his business and carry out work to an unsatisfactory standard but has since closed down the business, he said. "This offence and these proceedings have been something of a wake-up call", Mr Horsefall said. "He spent six months in self-imposed isolation at his parent's house and that self-rehabilitation has resulted in him being clean for a number of months"
Sentencing, Judge Richard Clewes, said: "This behaviour was utterly outrageous and dishonest. From the very first moment you spoke to your victim you planned and knew you were going to take him in and defraud him over a period of time - and you involved others in that plan.
"Not only were you happy to do that to get easy money for yourself, you gave no thought whatever to the effect your actions might have on him, whether he could afford to lose that money or whether he might have to get someone else to repair your utterly worthless and shoddy work. You behaved utterly selfishly. The message has to be that people who do this will get a prison sentence."
The judge sentenced Stafford to four months but said he was prepared to suspend the jail term for 12 months as he had repaid the couple and showed significant remorse. Stafford was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, and pay £500 costs.
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