Dishonest roofing team locked up

Two rogue workers who charged elderly people in Staffordshire and the Black Country for roofing work that was either botched or not completed were today behind bars.

In one case a pensioner was driven to her bank to withdraw £1,200 in cash for shabby work being carried out on her home by one of the men, Mark Duggan, aged 46, who refused to drive her back to her home once he had the money in his hands.

The court heard that Esteline Rhodd had to return back to her home, in Amington, Staffordshire, on the bus.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Duggan was already under investigation when he went ahead with the scam during which Mrs Rhodd was charged £6,900 for work that should have cost less than £1,300.

Mrs Rhodd had phoned another company to fix a kitchen leak and was quoted £1,100 said prosecutor Mark Chapman.

This came five months after Duggan had been interviewed by Sandwell Trading Standards officers investigating the way in which 84-year-old John Green had been tricked into paying £1,250 as a deposit for chimney and roof work that did not need doing on his home in Wolverhampton Road, Oldbury, in December 2009. This was after a cold call from Dean Madden, 46.

Mr Chapman said: "This was a bare-faced lie but he was taken in and given a verbal quote of £2,250 for which he paid £1,250 cash for materials.

The pair, who both had previous convictions for fraud and dishonesty, were part of a gang that claimed to work for a firm called Dry-Tech Roofing, the court was told.

Duggan from Merlins Grove, Sheldon, and Madden, of Stud Lane, Stechford, each admitted conspiracy to defraud and were respectively jailed for two years eight months and two-and-a-half years.