Two men and a woman conned elderly victims into paying almost £400,000 for shoddy building works on their homes that in most cases wasn't needed in the first place.
Following reports of rogue traders operating in Merseyside and Cheshire in 2022, detectives from Cheshire Police found elderly residents were "in essence held to ransom by these cold and calculating" defendants.
Once the victims agreed for the work to take place on their home, it was then completed to an extremely poor standard and the pricing of the work was extortionate, North Wales Live reports. Andrew Lovell, Madeline Lovell, and Kevin Brown scammed pensioners out of £398,490 in total.
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Andrew Lovell, 43, from Coppice Green, Elton, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud by false representation and money laundering. He was sentenced to four years and six months behind bars.
Madeline Lovell, 41, of the same address pleaded guilty to three counts fraud by false representation and money laundering. She was sentenced to 27 months.
Brown, 61, of Llys Ont Y Felin in Mold pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and money laundering. He was sentenced to 18 months.
Detective Constable Gareth Yates, from the Economic Crime Unit, said: "They were made to feel they had no option but to pay, for often shoddy work, at highly inflated prices. The Economic Crime Unit was determined to catch the offenders who were preying on members of the community, who were often having to break into their life savings to pay these individuals off.
“They knew they’d been defrauded, but were unable to fight back, they felt powerless, frustrated, and embarrassed. They were made to feel unsafe in their own home and left in fear of what would happen if they didn’t pay.”
Cheshire Police said a detailed investigation was carried out by the Economic Crime Unit which utilised an array of police tactics including forensic analysis of financial, telecom and ANPR data to link these suspects to the crimes they had committed.
An independent chartered surveyor was brought in to detail the losses to each victim in his separate reports. He noted that the work was extremely poor and in some case wasn’t required.
The defendants were arrested in raids at their home addresses following an extensive investigation by the ECU and subsequently charged. Det Con Yates added: “Our dedicated team will stop at nothing to root out those who commit fraud especially against our most vulnerable members of our society.
"We will continue to disrupt their illegal activities and protect our communities by putting these criminals behind bars.”
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