Rogue Teesside landscape gardener locked up for three years

Landscape gardener Christopher Hood left a trail of unfinished work in his wake as he took on jobs he was unable to perform as his business started failing.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 53-year-old was forced off one site as his work was substandard before going on to rip off a further seven customers before he was brought to task by trading standards officers.

Hood, of Wetherby Green, Ormesby, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in unfair business practices and seven counts of fraud between 2017 and 2019.

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Gary Wood, mitigating, said his client had been drinking heavily and gambling at the time of the offences but was now in a much better place and was working for another landscaping business.

He added: “He never set up this business to rip off people. The defendant had fallen in difficult times financially.”

Some of the shoddy work carried out by Christopher Hood's company Vision Landscapes (Image: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council)

The court heard how Hood’s relationship had broken down and he was selling a home where he was set to receive £25,000 from the sale.

Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “I do not say that your landscape business was fraudulent from the outset, there’s no evidence to suggest that, but it became fraudulent.

“In July 2017 you agreed to do some work for one family, this agreement was not fraudulent but because of your inability to competently run your business, it became out of hand, unworkable, there was a substantial delay, and the quality was poor at best.

“As a result, the family and their friends told you to get off site and thereafter you refused to return and left them substantially out of pocket.”

Some of the shoddy work carried out by Christopher Hood's company Vision Landscapes (Image: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council)

The judge told Hood that the head injury he suffered in early 2019 was not an excuse for the frauds he committed afterwards.

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He added: “You tendered for a job that you had no reasonable prospect of completing; you took money even though you hadn’t come round to do any work and, on each occasion, leaving them significantly out of pocket.”

Some of the shoddy work carried out by Christopher Hood's company Vision Landscapes (Image: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council)

Hood was sentenced to a total of three years and ordered to pay £25,000 in compensation.

Speaking after the sentencing, Councillor Carrie Richardson, the deputy leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: “We have highly professional and dedicated professional Trading Standards officers who will do what it takes to protect the public – and that very much includes bringing people to justice at court.

“A decision to go to court is not taken lightly but we will not hesitate to do it to protect law-abiding people.”