Rogue traders charged Sheffield pensioner over £130,000 for £3,000 worth of work
Case taken to court by trading standards bosses
A pensioner with a dying husband was fleeced for over £100,000 by a gang of rogue traders who targeted her at her Sheffield home.
Now, members of the gang who charged her over £130,000 for work that should have cost nearer £3,000, have been jailed for the scam in which she was caught.
Teeside Crown Court heard how the woman, aged in her 70s, was repeatedly targeted by rogue traders while her husband was terminally ill and following his death.
She was later cold-called by rogue trader Frederick Finney, using the name “James”, who returned with flowers and chocolates, called her his “nicest customer” and assured her he “wouldn’t take advantage of her or scam her”.
In total, she paid £133,400 for work later valued at £3,350.
Now seven members of a 22-person criminal operation, that persuaded homeowners across the North East, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire to pay vastly inflated prices for unnecessary or poor-quality roofing and building work, have been sentenced at Teesside Crown Court, with four jailed for a combined 22 years.
The network extracted well over £1 million from victims for unnecessary, poor-quality and grossly overpriced work between May 2021 and August 2024.
The sentences follow a major investigation by the National Trading Standards Yorkshire and Humber Regional Investigation Team.
The conspiracy had 43 proven victims, from Northumberland through County Durham, Teesside and Yorkshire to Lincolnshire.
Trading Standards officers also uncovered an extensive money laundering network used to move and disguise victims’ money through numerous bank accounts.
These offenders deliberately targeted people who were isolated, unwell or grieving
Finney, aged 48, of HMP Holme House, previously of Bickerton, West Yorkshire, was one of the architects of the conspiracy and used a network of money launderers to receive and move victims’ money.
This network included his wife, Carla Finney, 48, of Hillfield Close, Seamer, North Yorkshire, described by prosecutors as a prolific money launderer, who operated 14 bank accounts through which £381,152 linked to the conspiracy was identified.
The seven sentenced yesterday were:
- Frederick Finney, 48, of HMP Holme House– sentenced to six years and nine months immediate imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Carla Finney, 48, of Hillfield Close, Seamer, North Yorkshire – sentenced to five years’ immediate imprisonment after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Andrew Carty, 37, of HMP Dovegate (previously of Normanby, Scunthorpe) – sentenced to five years and four months immediate imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Michael Olssen, 38, of Richmond Road, Hessle, Humberside – sentenced to four years and 11 months immediate imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Shannon Finney, 22, of Hillfield Close, Seamer, North Yorkshire – sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years after being convicted of conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Christopher Morley, 36, of North Lincolnshire – sentenced to 24 months imprisonment suspended for two years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to convert criminal property.
- Allan Smith, 36, of Gainford, Birtley, Gateshead – sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years after pleading guilty to two fraud offences and converting criminal property.
Another 15 defendants area yet to be sentenced.