Bogus roofer jailed for two years after conning twins
A fraudster conned pensioners out of £750...by claiming the roof at their Maidstone home had been completed with stolen materials. Heartless Paddy Doran - who had just been released from jail - preyed on the elderly twins during lockdown.
The trusting brothers were told that roof work carried out three years earlier was illegal and the tiles would have to be replaced at a cost of £2,000. Maidstone Crown Court heard how Doran, acting aggressively, called at the property in Woolley Road on eight occasions in March to collect cash.
The jury heard how on one occasion while his victim was withdrawing cash at his bank the 31-year-old crook waited in a nearby bookmakers.
Doran was arrested when the concerned brothers, who are in their 70s, told police they were living in fear of being attacked.
Judge Catherine Moore jailed him for two years and three months.
She said: “You know that people are taken in by such tall tales and lies. You have spent the past five years exploiting such vulnerabilities in people.
“Crimes of this kind are incredibly serious. I have no hesitation in deciding that the brothers were at risk of losing £2,000.
“Such an amount is often harshly felt and you have heard it was taken from savings they had accumulated over their working lives. “But it is a particularly dreadful crime because it cynically exploits people. It means people feel vulnerable in their own homes. “Time and time again you preyed on that vulnerability for your own selfish ends.” Doran, of Buckinghamshire, had denied fraud but was found guilty after a weeklong trial.
Judge Moore added that his two previous convictions displayed ‘incredibly similar hallmarks’.