Two rogue traders have been jailed for scamming elderly people in North Yorkshire for shoddy or “non-existent” gardening and roofing work.
Jonathan Anthony Webster, 39, and Nathan Nunn, 34, were part of a family-run extortion campaign which preyed on vulnerable people who were hoodwinked into paying out thousands of pounds for “sub-standard” work on their homes, York Crown Court heard.
The two Malton fraudsters worked in tandem with James Webster, 36, and Anne Marie Webster, 39, to scam the many elderly victims out of more than £10,000, said prosecutor Nick Adlington.
The money was then transferred between various bank accounts and spent on exotic holidays.
Jonathan Webster, Anne Marie Webster and Nunn ultimately admitted fraud following an extensive police investigation into the extortion plot which occurred over many months. James Webster admitted transferring criminal cash.
Mr Adlington said that Nunn and Jonathan Webster were the fulcrum of the fraud spree, Nunn having extorted five victims and Webster scamming four elderly people.
He said that the roofing and gardening work was either “non-existent or sub-standard”.
The scam came to the attention of North Yorkshire Police in July 2020 when the daughter of one of the named victims reported a “fraudulent demand for £2,000” which her father had paid by cheque to an “unidentified person”.
Further enquiries revealed that a series of cheque payments had been made by other victims as far back as May 2018.
Mr Adlington said that nine cheques amounting to £10,600 had been paid between the spring of 2018 and September 2019.
“The cheques were made payable to one of the defendants and paid into one of their accounts, before being withdrawn in cash or transferred to other defendants and withdrawn piecemeal,” he added.
In one instance, the fraudsters used £497 of ill-gotten cash to pay for a family holiday to Turkey through a travel agency.
Mr Adlington said one victim paid £800 for roofing work which was “merely décor and not worth £800”.
Another elderly man wrote Jonathan Webster a cheque for £2,000 which was withdrawn and used for a holiday.
Mr Adlington said the fraudsters “didn’t do very much work” for this excessive fee.
‘Wholly sub standard’
Another victim paid thousands for work described as “wholly sub-standard, with gloss paint being applied over decayed window frames” which was “unfit for purpose, unprofessional”.
Another victim wrote a cheque for £2,000 which went into Nunn’s accounts and withdrawn “over three transactions”.
Mr Adlington said although on this occasion the work was done to a “reasonable standard”, an expert estimated that it would only have been worth only £600.
Another elderly man paid Nunn £2,000 for the removal of a shed when the work was only worth £600.
Jonathan Webster charged an elderly woman £600 for work which was only worth £75 and spent it at a travel agent.
A carer for one of the victims reported “suspicious” behaviour by a man and woman who had called at her elderly client’s home and to whom well over £1,000 was paid for gardening work and window repairs which was worth only £600.
The money was paid either to Jonathan Webster or Anne Marie Webster and ended up in the female fraudster’s account.
The four defendants appeared for sentence yesterday (Monday, June 24).
Mr Adlington said that Nunn, of Birch Avenue, Malton, had previous convictions for vehicle theft and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Jonathan Webster, of Hawthorn Close, Malton, had three previous convictions for theft and James Webster, of Scagglethorpe, Malton, had a record which included vehicle theft, drug offences and harassment.
Anne Marie Webster, of Hawthorn Close, Malton, had a hitherto clean record.
Defence barrister Richard Barradell, for Nunn, said the married father-of-three, who worked for a “roofing service”, was responsible for three of the cheques worth £6,000.
James Lake, for Jonathan Webster, said his client was a “hard worker” and father-of-two.
Mark Savage, for James Webster, said his client was a hard-working father-of-five who ran his own roofing business.
Emily Hassell, for Anne Marie Webster, said the mother-of-two had defrauded one victim and was responsible for three of the cheques worth a combined £1,630 over just a six-day period.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, handed Jonathan Webster a 10-month prison sentence and jailed Nunn for seven months as they had played the leading roles in the fraud.
Anne Marie Webster received a five-month suspended jail sentence and was ordered to carry out 280 hours of unpaid work.
James Webster received a five-month jail sentence, but this was also suspended for 12 months. He too was ordered to complete 280 hours’ unpaid work.