A rogue builder who scammed his elderly customers out of more than £500,000 has been ordered to pay back nearly £133,500 to his victims or face a further three years in jail. Alan Lee undertook a lengthy campaign of targeting vulnerable people around south Wales, carrying out unnecessary work which often left their homes in an unsafe state.
He also bullied his victims into paying his exorbitant fees, in one instance telling someone who queried their bill: "I know where you live." The 49-year-old of Wentloog Road in Rumney carried out his spree of deception between September 2018 and December 2020, during which time he visited properties in Roath, Barry, Ely, Thornhill, Llanishen and Newport.
Described during his trial at Cardiff Crown Court in December 2021 as a "persistent, dishonest, aggressive and intimidating person," Lee pleaded guilty to defrauding 24 people of £556,000 and was originally sent to prison for six years and ten months. But earlier this week a Proceeds of Crime Hearing heard that the conman has £133,486 in assets, £100,000 of which he himself admitted had been hidden.
