Rogue traders jailed for conning vulnerable people out of £880,000

Three conmen have been sentenced after defrauding a 83-year-old out of most of her life savings in a plot which targeted vulnerable people.

Charlie Lee and James Cunningham pretended to have carried out repairs to the woman's roof and demanded cheques of more than £30,000.

CCTV installed by police in her hallway showed the pair pressuring her to write out one of the cheques.

Cunningham is heard telling the woman: "The bank may ring you regarding this cheque but you just tell them you're happy for it to go through."

The cheques were made out to a different name, a money-laundering tactic to hide their crimes.

Inspections of the roof showed that - at most - some mortar had been placed along the ridge tiles.

The woman, from Aspley, Nottingham, told police: "They intimidated me and would not take no for an answer, so I felt little choice but to give them what they wanted."

She said she had been left feeling unsafe in her home and the men had "emptied my bank account",

The woman died last April so never saw her swindlers sentenced.

Ten others were also targeted as part of a wider fraud that pulled in around £880,000.

Victims included a 67-year-old Nottingham man who lost £376,000 of his pension savings and a 97-year-old woman defrauded out of £186,000.

The pattern used by the men was the same: demanding extortionate payments for work that either hadn't been done or was sub-standard.

Some of the victims were threatened that previous work would be torn down if further payments weren't made.

"This group used relentless high-pressure tactics and intimidation to defraud these householders," said Detective Constable Rich Evans of Nottinghamshire Police,

"Some of them led lavish and luxurious lifestyles as a direct result of their criminality after bleeding their victims dry of their hard-earned savings without any remorse whatsoever."

Lee, 57, and Cunningham, 41, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation between August 2021 and May 2023.

Cunningham also admitted six money laundering offences and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in total.

However, the judge at Nottingham Crown Court said he could be immediately released on licence due to time already served waiting for trial.

Lee was jailed for three years and 10 months.

Read more from Sky News:
Woman in court over school crash that killed two girls
Man charged with murder after death of 'beloved mother'

His son, Ben Lee, got four years and 11 months after also admitting fraud and money laundering offences.

Others sentenced on Monday for laundering offences were: 56-year-old Stephen O'Rourke, of Meryhurst Road, Sandwell, whose name was used on the cheques; 46-year-old Michelle Fox, of Church Close, Lutterworth; Cole Lee, of Mile Tree Lane, Coventry.

They received suspended sentences and were told to do unpaid work.

Police said they would be pursuing confiscation orders through the Proceeds of Crime Act to try to recoup the money stolen.

(c) Sky News 2026: Rogue traders jailed for conning vulnerable people out of £880,000