A COUPLE who made thousands of pounds by conning elderly and vulnerable people in Dorset with substandard roofing work have been sentenced.

Christopher Call (36), of Cooks Hill, Horsham, Surrey, and Georgia Smith (33), of Orchard Gardens, Cranleigh, West Sussex operated under the name Your Roof Buddy Ltd.

Smith’s company charged inflated prices to four elderly customers, ranging from the ages of 65 and 93, to carry out roofing work that was described by an expert building surveyor as incompetent, unnecessary, and of no value – with all work needed to be redone.

The pair’s quoted total for roofing work amounted to a staggering £119,600, an investigation by Trading Standards revealed.

They falsely claimed to be a member of Checkatrade. Despite being removed from the scheme and instructed to stop using its name and logo, Smith continued to display it on the company’s website.

They targeted venerable people who responded to leaflet drops. At first, Call would initially suggest minor repairs, which quickly escalated to claims that entire roofs needed replacing.

Customers who questioned the work or refused to pay were threatened with legal action by Smith.

READ MORE: Christopher Eccleston announced as patron for Bournemouth International Film Festival

READ MORE: Rogue traders defrauded vulnerable man out of £36,000 – for trimming hedges in Dorchester

They both pleaded guilty part-way through their trial at Bournemouth Crown Court on June 24.

Call admitted to carrying on a business for a fraudulent purpose under the Companies Act 2006, while Smith pleaded guilty to three offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Call was sentenced on September 16 at Teesside Crown Court, where he also faced charges related to a separate betting fraud conspiracy for which he received four years three months imprisonment.

Smith was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on September 18.

Call, who previously operated under the name Christopher Heron, had a history of dishonesty offences dating back to 2007, including a five-year prison term for fraud from 2014.

The judge commented that whilst Call was not a director of the company, he clearly played a leading role in the fraud and was the controlling mind of Your Roof Buddy Ltd, resulting in substandard work at grossly inflated prices.

Call was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment for fraudulent trading to run consecutively with his other sentence.

Smith, the sole director of Your Roof Buddy Ltd, handled customer communications and paperwork.

The judge’s sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court, summed up that Ms Smith’s role as director attributed to the neglect in the way the company was operating, her partner secured the work which was subcontracted to ‘cowboys’ and that as director she could not ‘turn a blind eye’ to statutory obligations.

Smith was sentenced to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, repay £5,000 in compensation and was banned from being a company director for three years.

Councillor Gill Taylor, Dorset Council’s cabinet member for health and housing, said: “This case is a stark reminder of the devastating impact rogue traders can have on vulnerable members of our community.

“I commend our Trading Standards team for their tireless work in bringing these individuals to justice.

“This is the second conviction they have achieved this month and work is ongoing on a number of other cases.

Dorset Council will always stand up for residents who are targeted by fraudsters. I urge anyone seeking home repairs to use trusted sources like our ‘Buy With Confidence’ scheme, where traders are properly vetted and approved.”

Visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk for more information.

Click here for more crime news from your New Blackmore Vale.