A pair of fraudulent builders have been imprisoned for systematically extracting £33,200 from a retired couple through an elaborate roofing deception.
Joseph Ellis, 21, and Dave McEvoy, 51, each received sentences of two years and three months at Swansea Crown Court after admitting fraud by false representation.
The victims, aged in their 70s and 80s, initially sought a simple roof cleaning service for their bungalow last summer in Ystalyfera.
What began as a £1,250 quote from Ellis’s company, Trustwise Roofing Ltd, spiralled into demands for increasingly substantial payments as the traders fabricated multiple structural issues requiring urgent attention.
The deception unfolded after Ellis and McEvoy began power-washing the property and falsely claimed numerous tiles required replacement at £1,700.
They subsequently insisted the entire roof needed replacing for £12,500, then declared the supporting beams were inadequate to bear the new structure.
With the bungalow’s tiles already removed and the interior exposed to weather conditions, the pensioners felt compelled to continue paying.
The fraudsters then demanded £16,000 for supposed wall repairs, later reducing this to £13,000.
Dave McEvoy McEvoy had prior offences including attempted vehicle theft
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SOUTH WALES POLICE
“By this point, [the victim’s] bank account had been cleared out,” prosecutor Caitlin Brazel told the court.
When funds were exhausted, the pair suggested the couple could release equity from their property.
Police identified McEvoy through the Nissan van used during the fraudulent work, arresting him in Penarth on July 23.
A Lucozade bottle discovered in the vehicle provided forensic evidence linking Ellis to the operation.
Joseph Ellis had previous convictions including burglary and possession of an imitation firearm
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SOUTH WALES POLICE
Financial records revealed the victims’ payments went into Ellis’s account before being transferred to McEvoy, who immediately withdrew the funds in cash.
The couple’s bank subsequently reimbursed the stolen £33,200, though they remained £5,000 out of pocket for essential repairs.
Other roofers had intervened to make the property weatherproof without charge after the defendants abandoned the stripped bungalow.
An inspector determined the original cleaning should have cost between £700 and £800.
Judge Paul Thomas KC delivered a scathing assessment of the defendants’ conduct during sentencing.
He said: “The phrase rogue traders doesn’t even begin to describe what you are.”
The judge emphasised how they had “ruthlessly and cynically” targeted the elderly couple, deliberately exploiting their vulnerability.
Ellis, of Hereford Walk in Basildon, had previous convictions including burglary and possession of an imitation firearm, placing him in breach of a suspended sentence.
McEvoy, from Runway Road in Cardiff, had prior offences including attempted vehicle theft.
The court heard neither defendant demonstrated genuine remorse for their actions against the pensioners.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Ellis was sentenced to two years in prison and the judge activated three months of the previously-imposed firearm sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of two years and three months.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea – a plea entered at an earlier stage in the court process than that of the co-defendant’s – McEvoy was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
The defendants will serve up to half the sentences in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.