Dishonest roofers jailed for defrauding pensioners of £138,000

Four rogue roofers who defrauded dozens of vulnerable elderly victims out of a combined £138,000 have been jailed.

Some pensioners were encouraged by fraudsters to go to the bank and withdraw large sums of money.

A gang of men attacked victims across the Midlands, carrying out ‘repairs’ that were often unnecessary.

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They regularly charged their victims – aged between 71 and 93 – thousands of pounds for assignments, returning multiple times to “take advantage of the source”.

The gang, operating in Irchester, Northamptonshire, was eventually busted when bank staff became suspicious after seeing elderly customers in the company of the men.

On Monday, John Lee, 46, Michael Rooksby, 29, and Charles Michael Hugh Doherty, 33, were convicted of fraud, while Charles Doherty, 28, admitted two counts of fraud.

In total they defrauded 24 victims – from Northampton, Norwich, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire. Some of the victims have died since the scam.

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Northampton Crown Court heard that the Trading Institution was alerted to the gang and managed to obtain CCTV images of some of the offenders.

The dishonest builders used a four-step process when selecting their victims. They would call their homes and offer to fix a minor roof problem for a small fee.

During this initial work they discovered more serious issues and began extracting more money from the victim.

Then, the court was told, they began to “escalate the situation” by repeatedly returning to the victim to extort more money from him.

One victim, an 82-year-old man from Northampton, was “extorted” out of more than £30,000 over three visits.

When he tried to make a fourth withdrawal of £13,000, he was told there were insufficient funds – that the gang had stolen all his savings.

Lee was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, Rooksby to three years and 11 months, Charles Michael Hugh Doherty to four years and 10 months and Charles Doherty to two years and three months.