Heartless builder cheated pensioner out of life's savings

Mark Elliot, 57, was jailed for 16 months at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after defrauding an elderly man out of more than £60,000.

Elliot is a resident of Shaw Lane Prescot, and his victim resided in Culcheth.

Speaking on behalf of the prosecution, Ryan Rothwell told the court how Elliot had laundered money for a group of men who tricked a vulnerable and elderly man.

He described how, in March of 2020, the victim was awoken by men banging on his door. When he did not open the door, they began banging on his bedroom window.

When the victim opened the door, he found a group of men claiming that neighbours had complained and his roof needed fixed. The victim agreed to the work, and agreed upon an initial figure of £30,000.

As work continued, they convinced the man he needed more and more work done, including an extension. The final figure ended up being an estimate £63,500.

Some of the shoddy work completed, for which they charged a total of over £60,000 (Image: Warrington Borough Council)

Mr Rothwell told the court how a building expert he had hired claimed "the value of the work done was £0" and "in actual fact work had to be done to demolish and redo shoddy work that had been carried out".

Elliot claimed his role was simply to funnel the money to the organisers of the fraud, who had promised him 10 per cent because of "issues with their bank account".

The prosecution, however, described how Elliot had carried out work on the house, and so absolutely would have known the work being carried out was taking advantage of the victim.

All the cheques for the work were sent to Elliot’s account, after which roughly 90 per cent were sent to accounts which the prosecution were unable to trace.

Three cheques were sent to Elliot, one for £8,000, one for £5,500, and a cheque for £50,000 in May of 2020.

In a victim statement read out by Mr Rothwell, he described how the victim “felt embarrassed”.

The victim said: “I have lost all his confidence and had saved all my life to help my retirement.

“I now find it difficult to trust anybody.” Throughout most of the sentencing, the defendant looked down and refused to make eye contact with the court, particularly during the victim statement.

Speaking on behalf of the defence, Reginald Mills painted a picture of a man with money problems who was pressured to take part in proceedings.

Mr Mills said the defendant was "thoroughly ashamed of himself" and accepts he knew this was "dodgy".

Halfway through the reading of the defence, Judge Lasker, who was presiding over the case, interrupted to challenge attempts to distance Elliot from the fraud of the victim.

“What is clear to me, is he was involved virtually from the beginning. The very first cheque was made out to him. Whilst there was not sufficient evidence, he was very close to being involved in the fraud himself, and he is trying his best to distance himself from it.”

The judge also stated doubts over the fact that Elliot only received 10% of the sum, but stated that "even if he didn’t it was laundered by you for criminals".

Summarising the case, Judge Lasker spoke of how the victim was a man in his 60s, single, and living alone in Culcheth in a retirement bungalow. He stated that he had “no doubt in my mind he was misled, and that he was vulnerable".

Mr Lasker also told the court that an expert had stated that “the charges were exorbitant.

“Even the proper cost of work should not have exceed £20,000 if it was carried out properly. It was not, and the valued of the work carried out was £0.

“You seek to blame others who you call ‘travellers’ for defrauding this man.

“It seems to me you were aware he was a vulnerable target.”

Elliot was given a 16-month immediate custodial sentence, of which he will be required to serve at least half.

A hearing will be held on July 3 to decide if he has the necessary assets to be able to pay back any of the money taken from the victim.