Pensioner tricked out of £13k for useless roof job
A cruel conman tricked a woman in her 90s into paying thousands of pounds for a roofing job which actually made no difference to her home, a court heard.
Salesman Graham Purcell claimed his roof coating was a low-cost alternative to re-roofing, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
But he massively inflated the cost of a new roof to make his offer appear a much cheaper alternative.
It was part of a con targeting elderly and vulnerable people and netting £8 million over three years.
In one case, the crook told a vulnerable 91 year old from Stourbridge she would have to pay £30,000 to re-roof her home before quoting her a price of £17,850 for his fake thermal roofing paint and then lowering it to £13,000 to make it look like she was getting a good deal.
He claimed his work could reduce heat loss by up to 25 per cent, make the roof maintenance free and increase the value of her property.
In reality, the cost of the work done was no more than £1,000 and served no purpose. The real cost of a new roof would have been £11,000.
Another person he worked his con on was also in their 90s and from the Dudley borough.
Tests proved the paint did little to protect people's roofs and would actually increase maintenance costs and devalue properties.
Purcell, aged 32, a salesman at Therma Seal UK, based in Tamworth, was given a 12-month prison sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court, suspended for two years, after being found guilty of four counts of fraud following a trial.
He must also complete 150 hours of community service.
The case against Purcell, of Manning Road, Droitwich, was brought by Dudley's trading standards team.
His conviction was the culmination of a wider sting carried out against the company.
Earlier this year, directors Christopher Wilkes and Alan Wilson were jailed for five years and banned from being company directors for eight years after being found guilty of fraudulent trading.
Councillor Rachel Harris, who oversees trading standards at the authority, said: "This was a large scale fraud netting more than £8 million in three years involving a significant number of elderly and vulnerable customers.
"To mis-sell a product with so many false claims is despicable and it left many victims out of pocket by thousands of pounds.
"As a trading standards service we work tirelessly to protect people from this kind of confidence fraud.
"The conviction of Mr Purcell concludes this important case for us and should act as a deterrent to other businesses who try to con vulnerable victims."
