A cowboy builder who caused £1m worth of damage to properties across Lancashire and Greater Manchester has been jailed. Homeowners were left without adequate roofing while marriages and families were pushed to breaking point as they were forced to take on additional debt to have the botched work rectified.
Patrick Hartley, 40, “overpromised and underdelivered”, pocketing customers’ money before moving on to his next job and leaving work incomplete. Over a 30-month period from 2020, 13 families fell victim to Hartley’s fraudulent behaviour.
Judge’s sentencing remarks
The rogue trader has now begun a prison sentence after Judge Andrew Jeffries KC sentenced him to three years and nine months behind bars. He said: “Any conscientious builder would simply have stopped. You continued to take on fresh work when the truth was you were leaving jobs incomplete and families in a state.”
The court heard Hartley was sent written letters and warnings after customers complained about the work. In some cases the builder promised refunds which never came, reports Lancs Live.
Judge Jeffries KC said: “It is hardly surprising that the emotional drain on these families is as crippling as the financial one. It must have been obvious to you the real harm that has been caused.”
Impact on victims
Victim statements spoke of how families suffered depression and struggled to bring up babies and children with special needs in homes without adequate roofing. Some took refuge in other peoples’ homes, causing families to live apart.
One family were unable to provide end of life care for their mother as their home was not suitable for her needs. Others described breakdown or near breakdown of their marriages due to the strain of their living conditions.
Financial details and sentencing
The court heard Hartley received between £600,000 and £700,000 in payments for the work which was never completed. His victims paid a further £300,000 to £400,000 for remedial work to make good his shoddy workmanship.
Hartley, of Doals Gate, Bacup, pleaded guilty to three regulatory charges of knowingly or recklessly contravening professional diligence and six counts of fraud. He asked for four further regulatory offences to be taken into consideration.
The court heard he had previously had a good reputation as a builder and had many years of success in the building trade. At the time of the offences he was experiencing difficulties in his home life and took on more than he could manage.
Judge Jeffries KC took the difficulties in Hartley’s family life into consideration but said the offences were too serious for anything other than an immediate prison sentence.
A Proceeds of Crime Hearing will take place in due course.
Lancashire County Council’s Trading Standards’ prosecution against Hartley was supported by Trading Standards colleagues in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and Greater Manchester Police.
Cllr Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for rural affairs, environment and communities at Lancashire County Council, said: “Patrick Hartley is one of the most prolific, heartless fraudsters that we have come across and could well be the most serious example of rogue trading that Lancashire County Council’s Trading Standards has ever prosecuted. He deliberately preyed on consumers at some of their most vulnerable moments – especially for the victims that he cherry-picked in Bacup and Rawtenstall.”
“He showed them no mercy and left them tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket. For the couple in Bacup, he cost them the chance to make a much-loved family member’s last few months easier. His behaviour was despicable.”
