A BANKRUPT builder who left a couple from Ingleby Barwick almost £7,500 out of pocket has been ordered to compensate them in full.

Stephen John Hall did not tell the couple he was an undischarged bankrupt – and failed to finish work they paid him for.

After an investigation he was prosecuted by Stockton Borough Council’s trading standards department and appeared before Teesside Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Hall, 45, of Ingleby Barwick, quoted them a price of £25,765 for an extension, but just one week into the work, having already been paid £6,750, he visited them and asked them to pay the rest into his wife’s account. He told them his had been frozen due to an illegal attempt to access it.

The couple paid all future payments into the requested account.

He later agreed to install a new garden patio, driveway and kitchen at the property but the couple received no written contract.

Then, in spring 2015, he claimed his business was in financial difficulties – and failed to complete outstanding work, meaning the victims had to pay different companies to finish the work – having already paid Hall.

Bank statements show the couple paid Hall and his wife a total of £44,750 between November 2014 and February 2015, and have been left almost £7,500 out of pocket.

Throughout this time, Hall had also been paying off debts he owed builder’s merchants.

Hall pleaded guilty to one charge under the Fraud Act 2006 and one charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

In mitigation, his defence said he originally had a good working arrangement with his customers but let things get out of hand when he agreed to do extra work, and in hindsight, should have drawn up a new contract.

They added that he suffered financial pressures and instead of discussing it, he “put his head in the sand”, and that he has now lost his business.

Magistrates ordered that Hall pay £7,359 to compensate the customers in full and also imposed a 12 month community order with 40 hours of unpaid work.

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Borough Council’s cabinet member for access, communities and community safety, said: “Mr Hall misled this couple with the intention of making gain himself, and though the work to their home appears to have started well, it certainly did not end well.

“The couple paid him large chunks of money to complete the work, and it must have been very distressing.”