A ROGUE tradesman who defrauded two elderly women out of almost £10,000 has been jailed for a year.

John Mace, trading as Top 2 Bottom Home Improvements - charged people for work which was never carried out and some of the work he did carry out was to a poor standard.

The 30-year-old, who charged a woman thousands of pounds to install solar panels at her home but never did, was jailed at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.

His two elderly victims, in their 70s, had suffered "significant distress" and lost confidence as a result of the crime.

Mace, of Kildare Street, Middlesbrough, admitted three charges of fraud and two of breaching trading regulations. He had no previous convictions.

In mitigation, David Lamb said his client was ashamed and embarrassed and said he had many happy and contented customers.

He did not set out to defraud the two ladies but had "bitten off more than he could chew".

He had abandoned all hope of becoming self- employed and was now working for a company full time. He also said his client wished to pay back compensation to the two victims and had got a job, saved £300 and brought it to court for the victims.

The case was brought to court after intervention from Stockton Council's trading standards team.

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety, said: “To take large amounts of money from consumers and then fail to start work or fail to complete work is appalling behaviour. To make matters worse, on occasions when Mr Mace did complete the work, it was of such a poor standard that it was worthless.

“I hope this will act as a warning to other traders that they must take their legal responsibilities seriously otherwise they face being brought before the court.”