A SHODDY workman nick-named the fiddler on the roof for his roofing rip-offs has been given an anti-social behaviour order to protect the public from his botched repair jobs.

James Bowes is now banned from plying his trade after ripping off pensioners.

Bowes pressured his elderly victims into having roof tiles fixed for supposedly budget prices. But he carried out sub-standard jobs and charged up to £1,000 more than he should have.

He even threatened a woman when she became suspicious and refused to pay.

He has been banned from working as a roofer until further notice after magistrates gave him an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo).

Bowes, 46, of Stanton Street, Newcastle, traded under the name of Fenham Roofing and targeted people in the city's West End.

Newcastle City Council trading standards officers and police acted after a complaint from a 52-year-old woman in Chapel House, Newcastle.

Bowes had been working on a neighbour's house and approached the woman to say she needed tiles re-pointed and re-bedded, the chimney stack re-pointed and tiles replaced.

He offered her a supposedly discount rate of £420 and said the work would be carried out in 45 minutes. But when the customer could not call Bowes later, she became suspicious and cancelled her cheque.

On July 2, last year, Bowes returned to the house and threatened to smash up the work he had carried out if he was not paid. Police were called and warned him not to contact the woman again.

Trading standards officers found only one roof tile had been replaced and much of the work had not been carried out as promised.

The job should only have cost £140, three times less than Bowes had charged.

The matter was passed to police, who arrested him.

Another complaint to trading standards came from an 84-year-old man who lived in a bungalow in Westerhope, Newcastle.

He had been working in his garden when Bowes approached him and said there were tiles missing on his roof.

The pensioner agreed to have work carried out and was charged £1,220.

When trading standards investigators sent a surveyor, they discovered a catalogue of errors. Some of the tiles had not needed replacing and Bowes had damaged parts of the roof while working.

It was estimated he should have charged £220 -£1,000 less than he did.

He appeared before magistrates in Newcastle and admitted two charges of deception and one of attempting to obtain property by deception.

An interim Asbo was granted while pre-sentence reports are prepared. The case was adjourned to next month.

* As part of its Doorstoppers campaign, The Northern Echo is pressing for legislation against door-to-door callers.