Express & Star comment: Faith in our courts put to the test by cowboy builder case

He was paid £29,000 to build an extension on a house in Wolverhampton, but walked off the job having completed work worth just a fraction of that amount.

In fact, he made such a mess of the job that it cost the homeowner £20,000 to put it right.

The resident, who lives with her teenage children, was left without heating for 18 months in a house that was in danger of collapse. Her garden resembled a tip.

Thanks to Tedstill abandoning the job, they were put at risk of serious injury. Not only that, but his bullying behaviour towards the homeowner left her suffering significant psychological harm.

Most right-minded individuals will undoubtedly consider the actions of Tedstill to be utterly disgraceful.

Despite his lawyer's insistence that Tedstill did not set out to rip off the homeowner, it is hard to have even a shred of sympathy for this despicable man.

Yet Tedstill's punishment for admitting his criminal behaviour is nothing more than a seven-month prison sentence.

This means he is likely to be back out on the streets in three and a half months.

What is to stop this parasite from doing the same type of thing again?

Does our criminal justice system really believe that locking up someone of his poor character for a few weeks will rehabilitate him?

It is exactly this type of bonkers thinking that has led to many people in this country losing faith in our courts.

There needs to be a change of emphasis in terms of how we deal with this sort of crime.

At the moment, the scales of justice are weighted heavily in favour of criminals.

Meanwhile the victims are left to pick up the pieces.

Week in, week out, this newspaper reports on disgraceful crimes involving the immoral preying on vulnerable people.

You only have to look at the case of grandparents Kath and Ray Chetter, who say they have lost faith in humanity after bogus water officials conned them out of their savings.

For too long the lawbreakers have had the upper hand in this country.

We need a criminal justice system that is fit for purpose.

And that means proper prison sentences.