A trader carried out unsafe work and deceived customers by promising 'dream homes and gardens' but leaving destruction behind him.
Brett Grundy, 43, used online aggregator sites to promote his work but used fake profiles to give himself five-star reviews. The profiles have since been removed and Grundy has been jailed for 20 months and banned from working as a sole trader for seven years, Preston Crown Court heard.
After customers complained to Grundy, he sent them threatening and abusive messages, including labelling two men as paedophiles and leaving one woman so distraught that she attempted suicide, Lancs Live reports.
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One building surveyor for Blackpool Council labelled Grundy's work as "not even basic DIY standard". Charles Brown, prosecuting, looked at four cases in which Grundy promised to carry out professional building and landscaping work.
One of his victims was housebound with mental health issues and hadn't left home for five years, he said. Trading under the name 'North West Construction', Grundy promised her "the garden of your dreams", in exchange for her life savings of almost £10,000.
In October 2020, Grundy asked for extra payments despite the quality of work being poor. Patio doors were in bad condition which Grundy claimed had fallen off the back of the van.
Meanwhile, the floor surround was fitted with plywood and a piece of timber was used in place of lintel, Mr Brown told the court. In December 2020, a buildings standard surveyor from the council visited the woman's home and valued the work carried out at zero.
In March 2021, a second customer hired Grundy to rebuild his garage. However, Grundy changed the plans, stating he could not provide a tiled roof due to a chimney breast - two weeks in, he claimed his vehicle and materials had been seized by the police.
He never returned to complete the work, and when the customer emailed Grundy, he was met with an abusive reply. Mr Brown added: "The customer sought advice from an alternative contractor, who said the work carried out to date was unsafe and would have to be knocked down.
"He paid £11,800 to remedy the work that had supposedly been done by Grundy."
A third customer hired him to carry out a kitchen refurbishment which Grundy quoted to be £9,000. He said the work would begin in March 2021 and be completed by June.
However, Grundy repeatedly asked for more money and when the customer became concerned about the standard of work he sought a second opinion. "Another builder came the next day and carried out emergency work to make it safe", Mr Brown said.
"The entire weight of the chimney was resting on a flimsy piece of wood and without the emergency work, the chimney was liable to collapse at any point." After contacting Grundy, the customer received threatening messages and was labelled a paedophile, the court heard. The man, who worked in education, was scared of Grundy's threats.
In March 2021, Grundy quoted £21,400 to remove a lean-to and carry out garden work for a couple on the Fylde coast. He asked for £12,500 up front to pay for materials.
Again, the work was of poor quality, and the customer began investigating Grundy online. He discovered a number of poor reviews and contacted Trading Standards to report the rogue trader.
In a victim impact statement, he said the work had left them "financially broken", and they were no longer able to replace his wife's adapted car, which she needed to get around, due to a disability.
'Work was shoddy and in some cases dangerous'
Defending Grundy, Jonathan Woodward said the defendant felt "deep shame and remorse" at how he had conducted his business. He said Grundy had been in the enterprise with others, who claimed to have the skills to carry out the work to a high standard.
"It is arguable that other people in the enterprise knew Mr Grundy was not the brightest button in the box and to an extent, used him", he said. Mr Woodward said Grundy was the frontman of the business and was told by his fellow workers that the work was of a good standard. "He couldn't understand why these people were complaining", he said.
The defence highlighted that Grundy had "various ailments" due to a diving accident in Spain and he was not mentally competent to engage in business practices.
"He has done his best to provide for his family. He is a very proud man", Mr Woodward said.
Judge Guy Mathieson, sentencing, said anything other than an immediate prison sentence would excuse the way Grundy had left four people in fear. "They have never been compensated and this has never been referred to your insurance company", he said. "There is no suggestion of ever finding the money to pay back what you took."
He added: "Financially, each (customer) handed over thousands for work that was shoddy, unfinished and in some cases dangerous. The cost was at least as much as they had paid you to remedy these deficits.
"Your response to their concerns and their complaints was to make excuses and to deny what would have been obvious to any semi-competent worker. You demanded more money from these poor, unfortunate people. You ultimately resorted to bullying tactics involving abuse, intimidation and threats.
"The financial loss to these people was devastating - whether that represented the loss of their life savings or the loss of means for a dream home. Possibly more harmful, and a far harder measure to assess is the emotional and mental impact, not only of the loss of money that people could ill afford, but living in houses that were part finished and open to the elements - having to deal with you and your cronies and having to somehow rectify what had gone wrong."
Grundy, of Clarendon Road, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to four counts of engaging in commercial practices contravening standards of professional diligence. Judge Mathieson sentenced him to a total of 20 months custody and made a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from working as a sole trader or holding out as a businessman to the public for the next seven years.
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