A rogue builder who destroyed the homes of his customers and took all their savings has been sent to prison for over five years. Lee Slocombe, 40, from St Thomas, appeared in Swansea Crown Court on May 9 for sentencing after pleading guilty to defrauding seven families out of more than £147,000.
Slocombe ran his Swansea-based building company, Kamlee Builders, and was paid huge sums of money by all seven families for building work that was either unnecessary, incomplete, or finished well below standard. One family from Swansea paid out more than £78k for work, and to rectify problems caused by Slocombe. The family stated they had gone into financial meltdown as a result and had to take out several loans to pay off the bill.
Another couple paid more than £18k for work which a chartered surveyor testified would have normally cost less than £600 and taken an hour to complete. Slocombe took money from all the families, including vulnerable people, but it's the second time he's been jailed for similar offences, having been sent down for more than three and a half years for similar activities in 2015. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
