A LANDSCAPE gardener has been ordered to pay compensation after he admitted nine fraud offences which left customers more than £7,000 out of pocket.

Martin Stewart Graham, 34, of Thornaby, was handed a 12-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay a total of £5,500 back to his customers when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.

At an earlier hearing last September, the court heard how he failed to carry out agreed landscape gardening services and general building work after taking payment.

Seven residents and one business were affected with individual losses ranging from £300 to £2,300.

Stockton Borough Council investigated and found Graham had been giving quotes for work and taking payment for materials, but then telling customers he was ceasing trading, between April and September 2014.

Many received nothing for their payments and those whose gardens were started were left in a worse state than before.

In mitigation, Graham said shortly after starting to trade as Graham Landscapes he got into difficulty when a customer withheld payment.

From there, he said, he began taking money from customers in order to finish previous jobs.

The court heard that about £2,300 of the money owed had been repaid to date.

Steve Nelson, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: “Mr Graham has showed complete disregard for his customers who paid significant amounts of money for landscape gardening and building work.

“This will have been a very distressing time for the people involved so it is only right that the court has imposed this compensation order.

“Our Trading Standards Team will always investigate claims of paid for work not being completed and I hope this case will help all traders understand that they must take their legal obligations seriously."