Rogue roofer forced to fork out thousands for 'incredibly shoddy' work

Unqualified roofer Geoffrey Whitehouse tricked two victims into thinking he was running a legitimate business before carrying out 'less than worthless' work to a 'ridiculously poor standard'.

The fraudster, who failed to pay any tax, was giving a telling off by the District Judge Graham Wilkinson when he pulled a frown after hearing how much cash he would have to pay back.

Sentencing at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court, the district judge said: "There's no point pulling that face. It is only fair that you struggle to pay this back. You knew that you were not up to this work from the outset.

"A clear message must be sent to people who are engaging in these rogue businesses effectively to take money out of people's pockets and make sure they never get any money back for no work at all or valueless work.

"I'm sure the tax man is going to be in touch."

Whitehouse's year-long scam saw him 'deliberately' hand out business cards, falsely claiming his unregistered firm Protectacoat Roofing Systems was based at Kidderminster's The Ash Lane Centre.

Victim Anthony Jones, who paid more than £3,400 to the criminal, was fooled into believing work carried out at his Brierley Hill home was covered by a 10-year guarantee.

The roof replacement at the Station Road property cost the victim £6,000 to rectify as it failed to comply with national standards ensuring it was safe, weather tight and durable.

Claire Ogeer-Ali also fell victim to Whitehouse, paying £740 to the defendant despite him failing to adequately fit and secure replacement tiles at her home in Salop Street, Dudley.

Whitehouse, who was convicted of benefit fraud 29 years ago, also made no attempt to respond to emails when victims complained about his sub-standard work.

An expert inspecting the former roofing company salesman's work after his offending came to light dubbed it the worst he had seen, the court heard on Thursday.

Whitehouse, who has no formal awards or qualifications to carry out roofing work, was claiming benefits and failed to pay any income tax while he was offending as he believed he did not earn enough to be taxed.

He claimed he fell into financial difficulty and continued to do small jobs after his first roofing company went bust, using old business cards to 'boost his reliability as a roofer'.

The fraudster, of College Green, Droitwich, was handed a 12-week sentence, suspended for 18-months, and made subject to a six-month curfew.

He was told to pay £3,490 compensation to Mr Jones and £740 compensation to Ms Ali, as well as £5,000 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.

Whitehouse admitted fraud by false representation, two counts of being a trader knowingly or recklessly engaging in commercial practice and four counts of being a trader engaging in commercial practice which is a misleading action containing false information between November 23, 2015, and November 23, 2016.