Directors of roofing firm which encouraged employees to harass vulnerable clients jailed for duping customers

Sarah Beadle, aged 40, and Martin Evans, aged 58, used a '14-step' guidebook to encourage staff to dupe customers into thinking they were getting a good deal, a court heard.

Elderly and vulnerable people were targeted between 2011 and 2014 by Summit Roofguard Ltd and convinced to pay thousands of pounds for unnecessary repair work.

The prosecution was brought forward by Dudley Council's trading standards after it received complaints about the company, which had an office in Birmingham, from the relatives of several frail Black Country residents.

Beadle, of Cofton Hackett, Birmingham, was found guilty of 28 various counts of unfair, misleading or aggressive commercial practices, and Evans of Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, of 24 counts after being found guilty following a four month trial in January. They were both jailed for two and a half years.

Former company director Trefor Prytherch, aged 67, of York Street, Kidderminster, and sales staff Derrick Fisher, 65, of Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire, and Glenys Bolton, 64, of New Oscott, Birmingham, were also found guilty by a jury and given 12 month sentences, suspended for two years.

Salesman Shaid Hussain, 32, of Gilbertstone Avenue, Yardley Wood, had pleaded guilty before the trial and was handed a nine month sentence, also suspended for two years.

Judge Amjad Nawaz, sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday, said: "This was a serious case of mismanagement. The offending involved the elderly and the vulnerable, which has left a nasty taste in my mouth.

"Customers were given a starting price and the discount procedure that followed was effectively a sham.

"But customers were led to believe the price was good and that is the basis of this whole case."

One of the victims was pensioner Betty Tipper, of Brierley Hill, who was sold windows and guttering by Summit Roofguard to replace products installed just four years earlier. Another pensioner targeted was 88-year-old Jack Hill, also from Brierley Hill.

Summit Roofguard claimed to be the largest installer of fascias, soffits and guttering in the region. The annual turnover of the combined company stood at almost £4 million in 2011.