Video shows 'despicable' builders mock elderly victim before conning him out of £8,000

Three builders caught on camera mocking an elderly customer they were scamming have all been jailed.

Footage shows the men filming themselves "bodging" a job while mocking their victim.

Matty Rossiter, 18, James Rossiter, 25, and Dean Smith, 21, can be heard saying: "We find guys like this every day" by "door-to-door knocking".

They filmed themselves on the roof demanding "quite a lot of money" for their services from 82-year-old John Bray.

The group charged him more than £8,000, yet only replaced a few roof tiles.

They made £45,000 from crimes committed at 18 homes across Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol between October 2020 and March 2021.

In the phone footage, one of them says: "As you can see we're doing some roofing work here. We're doing some bodging. We've got two vans on the go - and as you can see, the guy we're working for, he's really old."

The man then calls out to Bray, from Calne, Wiltshire, saying: "John, we're having quite a lot of money for this, aren't we?"

Three cowboy builders have been jailed after they filmed themselves bragging about conning their ''really old'' victim. (SWNS)
Three cowboy builders have been jailed after they filmed themselves bragging about conning their ''really old'' victim. (SWNS)
John Bray, 82, next to one of the cowboy builders who targeted him and other elderly people in a string of fraudulent jobs. (SWNS)
John Bray, 82, next to one of the cowboy builders who targeted him and other elderly people in a string of fraudulent jobs. (SWNS)

He adds: "So we want to do you a good job. It's worth doing right, isn't it? It's your home, you need to live in it. So you don't want any more problems on the roof after we're gone, do you?"

The camera then turns to look at the badly repaired roof, before the person taking the footage adds: "As you can see here, we don't need to pay thousands for advertisement. It's on the door-to-door knocking, what I've done for all my life, and we find guys like this every day. The door-to-door knocking. It's the way forward."

The work was later labelled by a chartered surveyor called by Wiltshire Trading Standards as "abysmal".

It was "carried out with no attendant skill or competence" and "probably without the use of appropriate hand tools".

On several occasions the group knocked on the doors of elderly people and told them that their roofs needed repairing - before overcharging them by thousands. They used multiple names for their business, varying by county, including Southern Homecare, Chippenham Roofing, Skyline Roofing, Wiltshire Roofing and Yate Roofing.

Bray's son, Steve Bray, told the BBC that the group were "despicable", and that he believed the death of his mother had been in part due to the fraud.

He said: "They made a video laughing and joking, insulting my dad, laughing and joking while they were doing more damage.

The gang charged £8,000 but only changed a few roof tiles. (SWNS)
The gang charged £8,000 but only changed a few roof tiles. (SWNS)

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"The feelings my parents had - the shame and embarrassment - my mum took that feeling to her grave. That's the worst part."

Matty and James Rossiter, both of Minety, in Wiltshire, admitted fraud by false representation and participating in a fraudulent business.

Matty Rossiter was jailed for two years and three months for the offence. James Rossiter was also jailed for three years and four months, while Dean Smith, of Aldermaston, Berkshire, was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to participating in a fraudulent business.

Judge Jason Taylor at Swindon Crown Court labelled the trio "industrial scale" rogue builders, and reprimanded them for their "arrogance" after laughing at their victim.

He said: "Over several months you mainly targeted elderly people and you viewed them as easy targets due to their vulnerability and felt no guilt about taking advantage of them.

"Your arrogance is notable. There was significant planning. You knew the bungalows you targeted would be occupied by the elderly."