Croydon Crown Court.

A roofer who defrauded an elderly couple in Croydon has received a suspended prison sentence.

Jamie Kempton deceived the couple who are both in their eighties into believing they needed £23,000 worth of work to their south Croydon property of which only £4,000 was needed.

Croydon Crown Court heard how Kempton had first contacted the couple in October 2013, when he informed them that they had slipped roof tiles. Upon completing this work, the 37-year-old from Mitcham targeted the couple again telling them that further work was required including replacement of drains, repointing brickwork and chimneys and new soffits and fascias.

The series of repairs were identified through quotes and invoices that were given to the pair. Six separate bank transfers were made to Kempton totalling over £23,240. Making the amount of fraudulent money taken from the couple more than £19,000.

The couple’s son became suspicious of the work carried out on the property when he visited in December 2013 and contacted Croydon Council’s trading standards department, who subsequently launched an investigation.

An impartial investigation was launched, authorised by the trading standards following the complaint. the independent chartered surveyor inspected the property and concluded that a large amount of the work was poorly completed and that much of it hadn’t been carried out.

The report found the replacement of the drains to be “a complete and utter bodge” which “could only be carried out to deceive”.

Kempton pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.