Two cowboy builders who were wrongly paid TWELVE times the going rate by an elderly Wigan man for botched home improvements are behind bars tonight.
Philip Riley, 56, and 59-year old Joseph Featon conned the 76-year old man out of his savings after falsely claiming their shoddy paint job on his house plus the fitting of window would cost £29,800.
The callous pair used their sales patter to persuade the trusting OAP to hand over his cash after making their paltry project last almost three years.
They would attended the old man’s house every two to three months, to paint, fit a window or work on the porch. At one stage they charged the victim £10,000 to paint his fence.
Police were eventually called to inspect their poor workmanship after a tip off from neighbours.
Reputable builders later concluded the bill should have been just £2,500 – more than 1,000 per cent below Riley and Heaton’s asking price.
At Liverpool Crown Court the crooked pair, both from Blackpool, Lancashire, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and were each jailed for 12 months.
Greater Manchester Police said the construction con began in June 2009, when the two men knocked on the front door of the victim in Standish, near Wigan.
They claimed to be builders and agreed a price with the pensioner to carry out work on his house including painting the outside of the house and fencing.
But unbeknown to the old man he was being overcharged ”ridiculous amounts of money.”
But the alarm was raised by the neighbours when they realised that in March 2012 the victim had raised two cheques for Riley and Featon, totalling £10,000 for work to erect a small fence at his address.
Det Con Shaun Nicholls said after the case: “Both men preyed on a vulnerable member of our community, knowing that if they could talk their way into his good books, they would be able to con him out of money.
“For over a period of just under three years, they claimed they were doing work on his house and charging him ridiculous amounts of money.
”When the “work” was looked at by a professional, it was described as substandard at best.
“Thankfully, after an investigation, we were able to bring both men to justice and force them to face up to what they have done.”
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