A ‘DESPICABLE’ duo has been jailed after preying on vulnerable victims and defrauding them of more than £80,000 in property repair scams.

Riley Smith and William Gaskin will each serve three years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud elderly and disabled people.

The pair were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court today following a lengthy operation sparked by the family of an elderly North Yorkshire woman who had issued cheques amounting to £94,500 for work on her roof, drive and gardens.

The family uncovered the cheques after the 80-year-old was admitted to hospital and flagged up concerns which eventually uncovered victims across the country.

As part of the multi-agency Operation Gauntlet, the works were examined and found to be worth no more than £25,000.

Smith, from a travellers’ site in Cambridgeshire and Gaskin, of a travellers’ site in Lincolnshire, plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the elderly woman - who lived alone in Filey - and others.

In 2016, they charged her £94,500 and lay rubber crumb to her driveway and gardens, carried out landscaping with artificial turf, power washed and painted her roof tiles and did other minor works to the roof. The woman died in July 2017, before the pair could be brought to justice.

Elsewhere in the country, Smith and Gaskin targeted a vulnerable and disabled couple in their 60s, who paid them £56,000 for £38,000 worth of work, and an elderly couple in their 70s who paid £35,000 for driveway and landscaping works at their property.

In the latter case, false claims were made about the product used to replace grass and the work was eventually valued at being worth no more than £25,000.

The court found that Smith and Gaskin, who admitted overcharging for the works done, had profited to the tune of about £83,000, with Gaskin said to have charged extra for one job to cover the costs of his own new kitchen.

Both men, who bragged about their targeting of the vulnerable in an exchange of text messages, had previous similar convictions and will now be barred from being company directors for eight years.

They were also handed Criminal Behaviour Orders presenting them from cold calling, requiring them to keep records of work and to notify Trading Standards if they intend to conduct work for those aged 60 and over.

Sentencing them, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, Recorder of Middlesbrough, said they were both capable of skilled and honest work but were taken over by greed when presented with the opportunity to exploit the vulnerable.

He highlighted the impact of their crimes, which had left one woman suicidal, and said: “When presented with elderly and vulnerable individuals, you use them.

“You and your families should be ashamed at what you have done – just look at those people who you have ripped off without thought or compassion and imagine if they were your own elderly parents and someone like you was taking advantage of them.

“When you persuaded them to let you carry out work, you went back and back and back and continued to go back until almost all of their money was gone.”

A statement from the family of the Filey woman said their relief over the pair pleading guilty was tinged with sadness, knowing that their relative had passed away without knowing that justice had been done.

It continued: “The last two years have been stressful and upsetting, knowing that our sick, elderly aunt was so cruelly conned.

“We felt angry, vulnerable and older members of the family were scared and intimidated.

“We would like to thank Trading Standards for their kindness, compassion and hard work.”

Following the sentencing, North Yorkshire councillor Andrew Lee said the duo’s actions were unforgivable, adding: “The sentences passed today reflect the despicable offending these offenders undertook, particularly against the elderly and vulnerable victim in Filey who had no means to protect herself against their callous and determined efforts to defraud her.

“At the time she was particularly defenceless due to her deteriorating health and it is unforgivable that they chose to exploit her in such a way.

“They took away her enjoyment of life in the last two years of what should have been a peaceful and safe time for her.”

The sentencing in this case brings the achievements of Operation Gauntlet team to 39 convictions in the past two and a half years, all from guilty pleas, and 52 years and five months of imprisonment for those receiving a custodial sentence. The team tackles all forms of fraud against vulnerable adults and is a collaboration between trading standards, North Yorkshire Police and Health and Adult Services.

In light of this case, the team reminded the public not to engage with doorstep callers and to report any concerns to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 040506 or police on 101.