Cowboy builder pays just £152 to victim

A cowboy builder who fleeced a "vulnerable" pensioner out of almost £165,000 in five months by carrying out unnecessary repairs has been ordered to pay back just £152.

David Parkins was one of a gang of crooks who tricked a pensioner into handing over cash to fix phantom problems with the chimneys, roof, loft, timbers and garden wall of the large semi. One bill alone topped £61,000.

The 67-year-old was also made to pay for a trench to be needlessly dug around the property in Walsall because the tricksters claimed it was in danger of subsiding.

Parkins pressured him into handing over money for the work by escorting him to a cash machine on several occasions, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told at an earlier hearing.

His victim's misery ended when the 36-year-old conman was arrested after an unrelated disturbance at the Yew Tree pub in Yardley, Birmingham, on April 12.

Parkins had £8,000 cash which he claimed had been given to him by an uncle. Police discovered the money had been withdrawn from the bank by the victim.

Yesterday Parkins, who was earlier jailed for four and a half years for the fraud, appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court for a financial hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Bernard Linehan, prosecuting, said the trickster made a total of £164,970 out of the scam but that just £152.47 was left in his bank account.

Judge John Warner made a confiscation order for that amount to be paid within 28 days.

Parkins, of Horrell Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, admitted fraud and making false representations.

Sentencing him at Wolverhampton Crown Court in June, Judge Nicholas Webb said: "A man who was vulnerable had work carried out on his house that was wholly unnecessary as you and others exploited him for months."

The court was not told what had happened to the bulk of the cash, most of which Parkins claimed had been handed to his "gaffer" George. A separate hearing will be held to deal with the £8,000 found on him when he was arrested.

By Marion Brennan