Roofer cowboy locked up
A cowboy roofer who conned elderly people across Sandwell out of tens of thousands of pounds was today jailed for five years by a judge at Birmingham Crown Court.
Vincent Smith was part of a gang that ripped off pensioners from areas in-cluding West Bromwich, Great Barr, Oldbury, Birmingham, Cannock and Warwickshire.
He frightened them into believing their homes were a danger to others and needed immediate repair work.
Smith, aged 38, of Eastfield Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and his colleagues charged exorbitant rates for shoddy work – and sometimes no work at all.
Operating under various names, they even advertised in the Yellow Pages. But their speciality was targeting old and frail people with a knock at the door.
Smith, who posed as the boss of the gang, was due to be sentenced last week along with co-defendant Stephen Allen, aged 41, of Station Road, Stetchford, but he claimed he was too ill to attend.
Allen was jailed for three-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud ten victims out of £72,000.
Smith was convicted by jury in November.
During his trial he walked with a stick and wore a neck brace, claiming to be suffering from a long-term illness.
When he failed to turn up for last week's sentencing the court was told two hospital consultants could find nothing wrong with him.
Sentencing Smith today, trial judge Mr Recorder Tom Rochford told him he had sought to cynically exploit any genuine illness he may suffer from and therefore deserved no sympathy.
Smith was also handed a consecutive one-month sentence for a bail offence re-lated to last week's hearing.
