A dodgy tradesman has been ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to his victim after he ‘fobbed her off’ despite taking cash to pay for materials that never arrived.

Derek Maude reassured his victim that he wouldn’t rip her off before proceeding to fleece her of cash while she waited for him to start work on the ambitious project to transform her garden.

The 41-year-old convinced the woman to hand over cash to get a good deal on materials for the project but the goods never materialised leaving her £4,050 out of pocket.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Maude was introduced to his victim through his own mother and his scam only came to an end when Stockton Borough Council’s trading standards team became involved.

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Joan Smith, prosecuting, said the defendant quoted the woman £11,800 to transform the garden of the home she bought to be closer to her seriously ill mother.

Maude promised the woman a summer house, a log burner, Italian stone patio and even an outside television but delivered her nothing.

She said: “He went on to provide her with photographs and videos of his work and reassured her that he would not rip her off.

“In one text he said ‘I won’t rip you off. I don’t know how people who do that are able to sleep at night’.”

Initially he asked her a £1,000 deposit to source materials before repeatedly contacting her and asking for more and more money to cover costs and buy materials.

Miss Smith said Maude’s mother paid £500 back to the victim but the whole incident had left her feeling distrustful of tradesmen and felt ‘ashamed’ that she had been conned by the defendant.

Maude, of Rochester Road, Stockton, pleaded guilty to being a trader knowingly / recklessly engage in a commercial practice and fraud by false representation between February and June 2018.

Gary Wood, mitigating, said his client had served in the armed forces and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result.

He added: “He acknowledges his guilt and he has expressed remorse for his behaviour.”

Judge Paul Watson KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced Maude to eight months in custody before suspending it for 12 months to ensure he can pay back his victim some of the money he swindled out of her.

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“She had had difficult experiences with tradesmen in the past and was wary,” he said.

“You gave her multiple assurances that you would do a good job and it would be finished in good time. The garden needed a good deal of work doing on it and you created the dream for her and then conned her out of it.

“You took £4,000 from her and delivered her virtually nothing. When she contacted you about the money, you fobbed her off.”

Maude was ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation in the next 12-months and carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.