Tradesman jailed for charging ‘52 times the going rate’ for laying artificial grass

A rogue tradesman has been jailed for 32 months for conning a 90-year-old man into paying £42,000 to lay artificial grass.

Michael Gorman had charged his elderly victim, Roy Wilcox, “52 times the going rate”, a judge said on Friday.

The 46-year-old charged £900 to remove some small trees, £1,400 for a new fence, and £12,500 to install concrete paving.

At a hearing in January, Gorman had been given more time before being sentenced after he said he needed to arrange for care to be provided for his 83-year-old mother who has dementia.

On Friday, it was revealed that the six-month delay has robbed Mr Wilcox of the chance to be compensated because since the last hearing the victim has now died, the court heard.

Amber Athill, prosecuting, said: “Sadly, Mr Wilcox has now passed away and therefore compensation is no longer being sought.”

Mr Wilcox had been snared by the fraudster after he spotted an advertisement for a company called MG Garden and Tree Services in Round and About Magazine, a court heard.

Ms Athill said readers were offered a “free quote with expert advice” and “10 per cent off for OAPs”.

Mr Wilcox, who wanted some small trees removed in his garden, had called the company and Gorman, attended his home in Reading, Berks, in 2021.

‘Gratuitous overcharging’

The prosecutor said: “Mr Wilcox lived alone at the time, had no close family and was inherently vulnerable. The defendant took advantage of this.

“Between November 2021 and April 2022, he dishonestly and gratuitously overcharged him for gardening works.”

For all the work Gorman carried out on the property, he never gave the victim any warning of what the price would be and never provided a receipt.

The court heard he had begun to call Mr Wilcox and turn up at his home, once appearing on his doorstep and asking for £40 in cash for fuel.

Ms Athill showed Reading Crown Court photographs of Mr Wilcox’s home which showed evidence of how vulnerable he was.

“It shows how unlikely it was that he would want to spend thousands of pounds on outside works when his inside living conditions were sadly so poor,” Ms Athill said.

“It would be clear to any visitor or tradesman that Mr Wilcox was vulnerable and so an easy target for the defendant to befriend and defraud.”

‘Surprised and shocked’

Gorman’s offending came to light when he tried to charge Mr Wilcox £42,000 for the installation of artificial grass.

Mr Wilcox had said he was “a little surprised and shocked” at the cost, but that he trusted Gorman and so wrote him a cheque, which bounced because the victim’s account was overdrawn.

When Mr Wilcox went to his bank’s local branch to investigate why his cheque had not cleared, staff became concerned and called the police.

Gorman was arrested and gave a no-comment interview to police in October 2022.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Wilcox had said he felt it was his fault that he had become a victim of the offence.

He said Gorman was “very friendly and did the work quickly and well”.

“I trusted he would give me a fair price because I did not know the going rate for such work,” Mr Wilcox said.

“I did not know of any way to check if the cost was reasonable or not. It is my own fault if I did not look into the matter further.”

Gorman, of Hook, Hants, had no previous convictions and admitted three counts of fraud on the basis that the work he carried out was actually worth £5,948.70 and the total loss he intended to cause Mr Wilcox was £49,051.30, though the actual loss was £8,932.

Francesca Kolar, defending, said Gorman had mild learning difficulties and now suffered from a depressive episode.

“The absolute tragedy in this case is that Mr Gorman is himself vulnerable and he has taken advantage of a more vulnerable person for financial gain.

“Mr Gorman was not running a successful, profitable landscaping business where he decided to take serious advantage of Mr Wilcox.

“He was under immense financial pressure at the time, his father had died who he was extremely close to, his mother had been diagnosed with dementia, she required care and assistance which was expensive. All of those burdens came down on the shoulder of Mr Gordan.

“He took up this opportunity and your honour may think he ran away with it.”

Judge Kirsty Real said the offending was too serious for any other punishment than immediate custody.

“It is obvious that he was elderly and there must have been some planning,” Judge Real said.

“You had been able to form a view about him because of your previous relationship. You plainly knew what you were doing was wrong at the time.”