A ‘cowboy’ builder conned victims out of thousands of pounds for work at their homes which was substandard, dangerous and never completed.
Michael Parr operated a building company under various different names including Premier Builders and Solve Building Solutions.
He advertised online and after securing customers insisted on down payments before work commenced.
Very little work took place at the properties for months on end with Parr asking for additional money and making up a series of excuses for the delays.
He also repeatedly lied to homeowners about the size of his business and the number of contracts he had completed, as well as making up references to deceive them into thinking he ran a reputable company.
Nottinghamshire Police began an investigation into Parr and the 55-year-old, of Gresley Court, Grantham, went on to plead guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.
At Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (3 October) he was jailed for a total of two years and eight months.
One victim came forward to report she had employed Parr for work on her home in Northamptonshire.
She made a number of payments to his company but became increasingly concerned by the lack of work taking place and the quality of that which had been done.
The victim paid more than £35,000 for little work completed, most of which later had to be ripped out.
It was a similar story for another of Parr’s victims who employed him to build a three-storey extension to the front of a property near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in January 2019.
Parr made up members of staff and also references giving glowing accounts of previous jobs he had completed.
The victim paid out more than £98,000 only to face a catalogue of delays and excuses from Parr about no work being completed.
Detective Constable Carl Miller, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Parr conned victims out of considerable sums of money and his deceitful offending had a significant impact upon them.
“I’d like to thank them for helping detectives to expose his crimes.
“Jobs he had been hired to do were left uncompleted and the little work he did do was dangerous and substandard, requiring further outlays to correct.
“This case is a reminder that Nottinghamshire Police takes fraud extremely seriously and will take robust action against those who commit such offences.
“We are more than willing to devote hours of meticulous detective work to ensure they are brought to justice.”