Builder jailed after conning Hartlepool home owner over £15,000 extension

Among Paul Phillips’s victims was a Hartlepool customer who had to pay an additional £4,000 to have his work rectified after a building inspector said it was unauthorised.

Trading standards officers have told how the victim originally contacted Phillips about building a single-storey extension.

A price of £15,000, plus £640 to satisfy building control regulations, was agreed with work expected to be completed by December 1, 2019.

Phillips, however, did not provide proof that building control approval had been granted and did not carry out the work himself.

With the completion date nearly three weeks overdue, the concerned customer arranged for a building inspector to visit and was advised on December 23 that the work was unauthorised.

Phillips, who the trading standards officers say had come up with a range of excuses, had at this point already pocketed £12,700.

He was eventually prosecuted by Durham County Council as part of a wider investigation following three separate complaints about work which the authority said was paid for but never completed.

Among the excuses he offered for delays were van accidents, charity walks and the death of his mother.

Phillips, 64, of Brackenfield Road, Framwellgate Moor, Durham City, is now beginning a year in prison after pleading guilty at Durham Crown Court to charges of fraud and misleading commercial practice.

His sentence follows a separate prosecution in which Jamie Thompson, 46, of The Green, Elwick, was jailed for more than 13 months at Teesside Crown Court after admitting two offences of engaging in unfair commercial practices and one of fraud following shoddy work that left a Billingham couple’s home like a building site for nearly four years.

Owen Cleugh, Durham County Council’s public protection manager, said about Phillips: “This trader’s activity not only fraudulently removed thousands of pounds out of the pockets of unwitting customers, but caused a great deal of stress, damage and mistrust for the victims involved.

"Unfair commercial practices such as these are unacceptable and we will continue to investigate any suspected fraudulent activity or misleading practices.

"This case shows that traders have a responsibility to trade fairly and those who do not should expect to face the consequences of their actions.”

To report concerns about building work, visit www.durham.gov.uk/tradingstandards.

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