A Birmingham based roofer that swindled over £30,000 out of a pensioner has been jailed for five years and four months.
Matthew Bucknall was part of the rogue roofing team that targeted a number of elderly residents and he was sentenced to over five years back in September. The conspiracy was to defraud the elderly people out of money by charging large sums of cash for work to be carried out on their roofs which they didnt need.
The latest con by the cowboy roofers was initiated when 81 year old Alan James of Hall Green received a cold call by a man whom claimed that partially disabled Mr James needed a little bit of work carrying out on his roof. Mr James was told that this work would only come to the total cost of £10, and when he accepted the initial work he was later informed that there was a problem with the ridge tiles on his roof costing an additional £460.
A short while later the pensioner was approached by Matthew Bucknall who informed him that there was a significant problem with rotting timber in his roof. Mr James then wrote a number of cheques totalling £32,000 to which he was told £4,000 will also be needed to be paid as a guarantee.
A chartered surveyor has since examined the roof to find other than a little re-pointing work, none of the other alleged problems were true. The Birmingham Crown court judge ruled the sentence despite claims that Mr Bucknall was merely a follower, indulging in activities that were openly encouraged by the rest of the rogue team.