Heartache of victims caught out by Stacy Handley

Victims of shameless Stacy Handley today told how they were taken for a ride by the smooth-talking fraudster.

Pensioner Alfred Thomas, a retired TV and electrical engineer from Wolverhampton, was among the 18 victims known to have been taken in by the rogue trader.

Mr Thomas told today how Handley charged him £1,350 for a botched driveway and then drove him to a building society to withdraw the cash.

The 89-year-old revealed weeds started growing through the drive just two weeks after it was laid at his three-bedroom semi-detached home in June last year.

"I took one look at them and thought to myself 'I've been had'", Mr Thomas said. "I think he picked on me because of my age."

The widower, who ran the Thomas and Stott shop in Oxford Street, Bilston, for 50 years, added: "I felt particularly insulted because I built up my business with good service by treating my customers correctly and ensuring they always got a fair deal.

"He couldn't wait to get his hands on my money and even ran me down to the building society to make sure he got it as fast as possible.

"The final insult was that he charged me an extra £150 on top of the original £1,200 bill to stop anything growing through the drive. It took the weeds and grass just a fortnight to appear.

"I rang him up to complain and he said he would come round and have a look but he never arrived.

"I have lived in this house since 1958 and the driveway was in need of a bit of repair when he called.

"He showed me very nice brochures with examples of fine workmanship that later turned out to have had nothing to do with him.

"The drive now looks worse that it did before he started. I just hope the courts order him to repay the money and so I can get my cash back."

Engineer Paul Dobson, aged 50, believes the shoddy workmanship of Handley cost more than just the £1,600 cash he paid for a shoddy drive.

He fears the stress caused by his fruitless struggle to get the money back may have hastened the death of his 87-year-old mother Floss, who lived with him in the Goldthorn Hill area of Wolverhampton.

Mr Dobson said today: "He replaced the drive in April last year and she passed away the following November.

"I tried to keep a lot of the worry about it from her because of her age but it could have contributed to her death.

"I knew Stacy Handley as John. His mate Tom arrived at the door first and after a short conversation he announced 'I'll get the gaffer.' Then Handley emerged from the cab of the lorry.

"He was smartly dressed and well mannered - the sort of bloke you want to do business with. My car sank into the drive as soon as I parked on it.

"I had paid the cash by then and chased him for over 12 months to try and get it back.

"I was ringing him up to four or five times a day but he never did a thing. When I first told him what had happened he blamed it on one of his workers who he claimed had been sacked.

His final words were: Don't worry, I'll sort it.'

"When I told him that my mother had died he said how sorry he was and promised to bring round some flowers. He never did."

Prosecutor Mr Richard Dewsbery told Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday that Handley, of Raglan Street, Brierley Hill, faced claims of compensation totalling £30,000 from the 18 householders with drives that needed replacing because of his poor work.

The barrister called for the defendant to be sent to the city's crown court for sentence because of the amount of money involved, and the fact he had continued to trick victims out of cash despite being warned by trading standards that he was breaking the law.

Handley was conditionally bailed pending sentencing on September 1.