A dodgy tradesman who left two homeowners thousands of pounds out of pocket has been jailed.
Paul Ruddy tricked his victims into sending him cash for building work that he would never go on to do.
The fraudster invented a string of elaborate excuses for why he couldn’t start work on the houses after receiving the deposits.
Both women were fed lie after lie by Ruddy – from him needing to isolate with Covid-19, to fake issues with their home insurance.
This delaying tactic went on for several months, with the homeowners going on to see no results while losing more than £8,000 between them.
Ruddy initially got into contact with his victims in March 2021 after both put an advertisement out on a trading website for someone to work on their homes.
After visiting the two properties in Bulwell and Aspley, Ruddy sent over quotes for the respective jobs and convinced the women to hand over cash for a deposit.
The promised building work never began however, with the 41-year-old repeatedly coming up with a different excuse so that the starting dates could be delayed.
One of the homeowners was informed Ruddy had broken his arm after falling from scaffolding, while they were also told on two occasions that he needed to self-isolate at home.
At the same time this was happening, he also repeatedly pushed back the start date on the other person’s house after raising concerns about their building insurance.
To make matters worse, Ruddy then offered to build a log cabin for her to make up for the inconvenience, with the homeowner spending a further £3,500 to buy parts for the cabin.
Once again however, the rogue trader didn’t follow through with his promise and failed to complete the work, leaving her even further out of pocket.
Following months of deceit, both women asked for the money they’d originally paid for the building work back, which stood at £3,333 and £4,875 respectively.
Both were promised a full refund by Ruddy but once again he was lying and neither of them received any money back.
At that point, the police were called and Ruddy, of Nottingham, was arrested and later charged with the offences.
Having pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation, he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday (21 December).
Sentencing Ruddy to one year behind bars, Judge James Sampson said:
“You can’t get away from the fact that these were nasty and heartless offences. For your victims, the money you took from them was a king’s ransom.
“You lied your way into their lives by pretending you were a reputable tradesman and lied to extract money from them. You abused your position of responsibility in terms of being a trusted trader.”
Detective Constable Chantelle Rose, of Nottinghamshire Police, added:
“Ruddy is a serial liar who seemingly never had any intention of ever completing the building work he’d been paid to do.
“After tricking his victims into believing he was legitimate and getting them to hand over money as a deposit for the jobs, he then did everything in his power to delay carrying out his obligations.
“For months and months, Ruddy came up with a range of different excuses as to why he couldn’t start the work – causing huge distress to his victims, who lost their savings as a result.
“This was then compounded when he broke further promises to refund both the women in full, with neither ever receiving a penny back from the con man.
“Ruddy’s behaviour was completely unacceptable, so we’re pleased to see that he’s now been punished for his actions in the form of a prison sentence.”
• Letters to Heaven postbox installed at Nottinghamshire crematorium
• Nottinghamshire girl acknowledged for bravery after 999 call for unconscious mum
