Two rogue traders in Lancashire who conned a pensioner out of £37,000 were caught after voice notes revealed they referred to the victim as a “lemon”. Tom Lee, 39, and Freddy Young, 27, targeted a man in his mid-60s, pressuring him for repeated payments after carrying out shoddy roof repairs that left his home leaking and exposed to the elements.
The scam came to light when the victim’s bank raised concerns over large cash withdrawals and contacted the police, Preston Crown Court was told. Voice notes recovered from Lee’s phone captured him saying: “This job, love it Tom, absolutely love it. There’s loads of lemons about.”
The fraud began when two men, including Lee, knocked on the victim’s door and claimed urgent roof repairs were needed. They gave him a leaflet for ‘Roofing Repair Specialists’ and verbally quoted £12,000 for repairs, plus £2,000 for scaffolding and another £2,000 to remove a nearby tree. An upfront payment of £3,000 was demanded for materials.
An expert witness valued the work actually done at £3,000, despite the victim paying £37,000. He had to pay a further £15,000 to have the roof properly repaired. In court, the victim said: “After the incident I was left without a watertight roof for about three months. There were water leaks in the attic which I tried to catch in buckets and saucepans.” He added that if there had been high winds, “the roof would probably have blown off”.
Lee and Young pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. Lee was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, and Young to two years and five months. Det Con Beth Turner of Lancashire Police said: “These two men were bogus builders who conned a man out of a large amount of money… The judge and I hope it sends out the message that offences of this nature will not be tolerated.”
