A threatening and intimidating dodgy fish salesman who ripped off at least 110 vulnerable or elderly customers raked in almost £250,000 over a three-year period.
Craig Henderson even had the audacity to ramp up the cost further as the age of his target increased – one as old as 105, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 50-year-old continued to travel all over the country flogging his unsafe fish to unsuspecting victims throughout the Covid outbreak which rendered many of his victims housebound.
A judge heard how the unscrupulous businessman used his ill-gotten gains to fund his drink and drug addictions.
Sabrina Goodchild, prosecuting, said investigators were able to attribute £246,000 of fish sales going through the defendant’s bank account between November 2017 and June 21.
Read more: Dodgy fish salesman locked up for ripping off elderly customers across region
She told the court that that figure was only an estimate of how much he took from the vulnerable targets as many of them will have paid in cash.
The court heard how Henderson would use signed vans not connected to his illicit business as an attempt to convince customers he was a genuine and reputable businessman.
Miss Goodchild said: “He entered into business to deal with drug debts. It was set up to defraud, it wasn’t a business, it was set up to source fish cheaply and sell it at exorbitantly high prices.
“He charged more than three times the average retail price.”
She told the judge how Henderson deliberately targeted elderly and vulnerable victims all around the country.
“There is chart that compares the age of the victim and the price paid, there is a clear correlation that the older they are the more they pay for the fish.”
The prosecution counsel said many of the victims had been left feeling embarrassed and ashamed that they had been ripped off by the conman.
Henderson, of Fir Avenue, Durham, but formerly of Chester-le-Street, pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading over a three-and-a-half year period.
Lewis Kerr, in mitigation, said his client had used the business as a way of raising money to pay off a drug debt after the defendant and his family were threatened by his dealers.
“He really does accept responsibility for his behaviour,” he said. “A crack and heroin addiction, and the debt accrued, was sufficient to draw him back to selling fish.”
Judge Howard Crowson jailed Henderson for five years and seven months after targeting the vulnerable victims.
“Your methods included aggressive, misleading and dishonest sales techniques. It is perfectly clear that you were deliberately targeting areas where there was a high number of vulnerable or elderly people,” he said.
“Analysis shows that you recognised it was possible to demand higher prices according to the age of the customer – the older they were the higher the demand without complaint.”
Henderson was also issued with an indefinite criminal behaviour order barring him from being involved in any fish selling business in the future.
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