A rogue builder who pocketed more than £500,000 while inflicting misery on Midland home owners over seven years has been jailed for 21 months.

Ronald Wright, aged 53, admitted 16 charges of obtaining work by deception. Wright, who lives at Oak Crescent, Leamore, Walsall, also admitted using false references and two charges of attempting to obtain money by deception.

He charged VAT when he was not VAT-registered.

Wright was a sole trader operating as RW Builders and carried out his deceptions between May 1999 and October 2006 when he was made bankrupt.

Prosecutor Nicholas Cole told Warwick Crown Court: “He entered into a number of contracts for extensions and other building work, and there are 16 complainants at addresses throughout the West Midlands.”

Prices were agreed for the work in the Wolverhampton, Walsall and Birmingham areas, which he would then begin, but after receiving stage payments in advance, Wright then left the work incomplete and, in some cases, defective, and householder had to pay other builders to finish the jobs.

Mr Cole pointed out that the case involved contracts entered into by Wright for a total of just over £725,000 of which £561,600 was paid to him before he stopped work on them.

And he left his customers then facing bills totalling just over £600,000 from other builders for remedial work they had to have done to finish the job.

Wright was chased repeatedly by customers he had left in the lurch, and came up with a range of excuses including deaths in his family, and illnesses to himself including cancers of the liver and kidneys on different occasions.

Shane Crawford, defending, said Wright was ashamed and disgusted about what he had done.

By Richard Woodall