A FRAUDSTER who conned a blind man out of cash by carrying out cowboy repairs on his home has been jailed and banned from working on any house in the UK.

Gerald Johnston told his elderly victims they needed roofing work done after turning up at their homes in October 2019.

On each occasion, he drove his victim to withdraw cash from banks to settle his inflated bills.

Following a prosecution brought by North Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards, he pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and engaging in a misleading practice at a hearing on March 18 this year.

His sentence, handed out at York Crown Court on Friday, July 2, includes a two-year jail term and a ban on working on any property in the country for the next five years.

He was previously prosecuted for similar offending in October 2017 and received a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years.

Two days after that suspended sentence expired, Johnston cold-called a vulnerable couple in their 70s from the Selby area.

He spoke to the man of the household, who was blind and has since died, and told him works were required to his roof.

The man, who explained to Johnston that he could not see the condition of the roof, agreed to the works and a price of £250 was mentioned.

Johnston later claimed he had found other problems and raised the price to £500.

The victim was driven by Johnston to the village post office to withdraw additional money to cover the inflated bill.

That act helped to secure his downfall as Johnston was identified from CCTV footage - recovered from the post office - by trading standards officers who had been involved in investigating his previous offending.

The works to the roof were examined by an expert appointed by trading standards.

He concluded works to the chimney stack were so poor it would need partially rebuilding and the works undertaken were unnecessary and unwarranted.

A second vulnerable couple, also in their 70s and from the Doncaster area, were targeted the same week by Johnston and told works were required to their roof.

The couple paid around £250 in cash to Johnston on this first day.

The next day Johnston returned and told them further works were required. Although they were expecting a bill of around £600, the final bill was £1,380. Johnston, of Carlton Travellers Site, Carlton, near Goole, drove the elderly man to the bank to withdraw the cash.

Again, the couple’s house was examined by an expert who concluded the works were inappropriate and unfit for purpose.

Sentencing Johnston, HHJ Hickey referred to one victim’s belief that Johnston was a genuine bloke and told him 'you were nothing of the sort'.

He added that once Johnston knew one victim was blind, he could have stepped away, but chose to continue with the offence.

The Northern Echo:

Johnston was sentenced at York Crown Court

The vulnerability of the Doncaster couple was also an aggravating factor in the offence, following Johnston’s modus operandi of targeting such victims.

In court, Johnston was also banned from driving for three years and will now be subject to confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Both couples defrauded in this case were keen to speak after the case and send messages to others who may be vulnerable to such offending.

The widow of the Selby victim said: “What this man did was despicable.

"My husband was vulnerable because he was blind and he trusted and believed him. I am also disabled.

"When I look back I know my husband wasn’t stupid, so it just shows you what can happen if you deal with doorstep callers.

"I do not want this to happen to other people. My husband has since passed away so sadly he didn’t live to see justice done.

"He felt ashamed, betrayed and so let down.”

The Doncaster couple added: “I want to say to the public that people need to be aware of this type of offending.

"You must use someone who is recommended to you, a qualified builder rather than dealing with someone who turns up at your door.

“We trusted him, he seemed so jolly.

"He asked us if we were happy with the work, but we couldn’t get up on the roof to check.

"This has really affected us”.

County Councillor Andrew Lee said: “There has been a lot of publicity about scams taking place during the Covid 19 lockdowns, including doorstep crime.

“This case was delayed due to the impact of Covid on the court system, as have a number of others, but any offenders of a like mind should take this as a warning that our multi-agency safeguarding team are absolutely committed to dealing with this type of behaviour, lockdowns or not.

"And justice will be done for the victims.”

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