Midlands cowboy builder is forced to pay back £50,000

The payment made by cheque to Dudley Council this week by 46-year-old Patrick Dunne will also help with the cost of the local authority trading standard's prosecution that saw him locked up for 15 months for fraud.

The father-of-11 was charged after his company J.J. Callaghan laid dodgy drives throughout the Black Country.

Mr Philip Brunt, representing the council, said: "The authority has received the cheque and, as a result, Proceeds of Crime proceedings against him have been discontinued."

Dunne pocketed £15,000 after tricking five households into paying for driveways into which cars sank within days of work being finished. They will now all be compensated.

Prosecutor Mark Jackson told Wolverhampton Crown Court: "He is a menace to the community. He ran a fraudulent business and conned his customers in almost every aspect of his dealings with them.

"He lied about his name, his business address, that works were guaranteed, that his business offered the best in customer care and what work would be carried out.

"Nothing provided by him revealed either his true identity or a legitimate business address. He failed over and over again to provide customers with information about their right to cancel their contract and the quality of his work was appalling."

Dunne from Stafford Road, Coven was jailed after admitting being involved in a business carried on to defraud customers and also pleaded guilty to 12 further fraud charges and eight of misleading commercial practice.

The substandard drives were laid in Dudley, Halesowen and Tettenhall between February 2009 and December 2010.

Stacy Handley, who worked for J.J. Callaghan, had earlier been jailed for 18 months after pocketing up to £57,000 by laying shoddy drives throughout the Black Country.

Dunne was revealed to be his boss via CCTV system. His home was raided and searched by trading standard officers on May 9, 2011.