DIY SOS fraudster jailed after conning Black Country victims out of £140k

Unqualified James Carter – who drove around in a van falsely claiming he had been on DIY SOS – was told his ‘shoddy’ work had ‘desecrated’ cherished homes across the West Midlands.

Recorder Benjamin Nicholls condemned the Stourbridge fraudster for his ‘hypocrisy and bare-faced cheek’ which left 15 victims across the region out of pocket to the tune of £140,000.

Sentencing at Stafford Crown Court, the recorder said: “His offending involved a gross breach of public trust.

“This type of offending undermines public confidence in tradesmen and has an impact on the majority of tradesmen who are both skilled and honest.

“He misrepresented and lied about his skills, experience and qualifications and was prepared to use forged documents if necessary.

“He used false names and addresses to try and ensure that disgruntled customers could not track him down, and when all else failed, he resorted to abuse and aggression.”

The recorder went on to tell the court he feared Carter’s offending may have caused a further loss of almost £60,000 to his victims, who have had to shell out extra cash to fix his work.

Carter targeted families across the West Midlands, including people living in Kingswinford, Dudley, Halesowen, Smethwick and Bilston.

He used eight different trading names, including Central Roofing Services, to carry out his plot to pocket tens of thousands from customers over almost two years.

Unsuspecting customers, who were aged from their 30s to 70s, were also given ‘bogus’ business addresses where they sent complaint letters and received no response.

The defendant drove around the region in a van falsely claiming he had starred on BBC Two’s ‘DIY SOS: The Big Build’ to trick victims into thinking he was a reputable trader.

But Carter - who used various surnames including Fallon, Fallow and Williams - was not qualified to carry out any building or roofing works.

The 40-year-old, who was known as James Eccles until last August, also conned victims into believing he was Trust Marked and covered by an insurance backed guarantee. A number of his victims also came across him on site ratedpeople.com as he would launch a new account each time he received complaints.

Defence barrister Mr Chris O’Gorman said Carter, of Vicarage Road, Wollaston, had ‘buried his head in the sand’.

The ‘devoted’ father, who was last employed as a window and door fitter, had stayed out of trouble for the past 12 months, the barrister told the court on Monday.

Mr O’Gorman added: “His step-father described the defendant in previous years as having brought quite a lot of trouble to the family doorstep. He had drug problems.

“It was the brushes with the people who were dealing drugs that led to him changing his name and the location of his home more than once.

“But ultimately, he brought his drug problems under control. He wants nothing more to do with self employment.”

The barrister went on to tell the court Carter was a ‘different man’ since his offending came to light.

On one occasion, Carter was called on to fix a large leak at Stourbridge care home Safeharbour and provided a quote of £18,500 to replace its roof.

Trading as Central Roofing, he worked for a week but the roof started leaking again within three weeks, prosecutor Mr Mark Jackson said.

Care home staff attempted to get in touch but a number on the invoice failed to connect, someone else answered Carter’s mobile claiming it was wrong and it appeared he was not trading from the address provided.

On another occasion, the fraudster showed a City and Guilds certificate awarded to an Exeter man to a customer demanding to see his credentials.

Carter was made subject to a criminal behaviour order forbidding him from carrying out any building or roofing work unless he is qualified.

The father was also handed a seven-and-half-year ban from being a company director.

He admitted two counts of fraud on the day of his trial last week after previously admitting a further three counts, which relate to offending between July 2015 and last February.

The court heard he was also in breach of a suspended sentence, handed to him in October 2016 for benefit fraud.