Shrewsbury plumber conned elderly and disabled customers and spent £18k on online gambling
A Shrewsbury plumber conned customers out of more than £18,000 and spent the money on online gambling sites.
Robert Bethell, 51, of Vennington Walk, Shrewsbury, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court after pleading guilty earlier this year to one charge of carrying on a fraudulent business, and another of disguising criminal property.
Kevin Saunders, prosecuting, told how Bethell, who was operating as RJB Plumbing, defrauded a number of customers from 2020 to 2021.
He explained that Bethell would take large deposits, sometimes worth thousands of pounds, from the victims before paying the money into his partner's bank account, then gambling the money away using websites such as 'Jackpot Joy'.
Mr Saunders told how Bethell repeatedly failed to turn up to start work, left incomplete work, or offered a litany of excuses for his absence - including stress, covid, and hospital appointments.
The court was told of numerous instances where he would attend people's homes to work for an hour before making excuses and leaving.
On one occasion he messaged a customer to say he was not "physically or mentally able to do the job".
His victims included a disabled woman who lost more than £3,000, and a married couple who were a former nurse and member of the armed forces.
One victim was left with no bathroom and a hole in the wall of her bedroom, forcing her to stay with friends in Manchester while her own mother was terminally ill.
The court heard how the deposits were paid into Bethell's partner account, and largely gambled away with no materials purchased.
Mr Saunders explained how one victim became increasingly frustrated at Bethell's excuses as she saw videos of him on holiday posted on Facebook while work was still outstanding.
The court was told some customers were left in debt after having to take out loans to cover completion of the work by other tradespeople.
In one instance after repeated excuses for not starting work and having received an initial deposit of £1,500 Bethell responded to a frustrated victim by telling them he felt "relations have broken down" and he no longer felt comfortable continuing with the job.
He also asked for the victim to only contact him by text message "so we both have a record".
Another time he asked a victim to only reply by text because the speaker was broken on his phone.
Mr Saunders told how one customer paid Bethell £4,730 for work on an en-suite - with no work taking place.
He took £1,000 from the same customer to fix a downstairs toilet, but the only work he completed was to remove the toilet.
Mr Saunders read a number of statements from Bethell's victims, describing the impact of his crimes.
One said the events were "deeply traumatic and financially devastating".
They added: "Work that was planned was never completed leaving us unable to sell our home and forcing us to take out loans we are still repaying to this day."
Another victim, a former nurse, whose husband served in the armed forces said: "It was not just the loss of the money but the breach of trust and decency that shocked us."
She added: "The money was intended to adapt our home to support my developing disability."
Another victim, who is registered disabled, said: "He could see how vulnerable I am and he took my money.
"It was a really horrible experience."
She added: "The way he acted around me was disgusting."
Will Hanson, mitigating, urged the court to suspend any sentence, saying: "He is not some criminal mastermind, he is someone in the throes of personal difficulties who resorted to these offences."
Mr Hanson said Bethell had addiction issues with gambling and alcohol, but had given both up since the offences.
He said: "He was really in a downwards spiral."
He added that the defendant had been suffering from depression at the time of the offences, and also has serious heart problems - both issues he continues to be medicated for.
Mr Hanson added that Bethell had not worked for three years but was eager to pay compensation to his victims - offering £100 a month.
Sentencing, Judge Anthony Lowe told Bethell: "In reality what happened was you took money from people promising to do work having no intention of doing it or certainly no ability to do it."
Judge Lowe said he accepted the mitigation but added: "I must remind myself of what you did. On occasion after occasion you go into people's houses, you promise that you're going to do work for them, over the course of this period of time at the very least you helped yourself to to some £18,000, and then you have used that to fund, primarily, your gambling habit."
He added: "The harm, as often does in fraud cases, goes much further than simply the loss of the money."
Judge Lowe said the sentence would be too long to be suspended - but that he would not have been prepared to suspend it even if that was possible.
He said: "I make it clear in case the matter goes to the court of appeal, had I come down to a sentence of 24 months I would not have suspended it, this type of offending, there needs to be a deterrent."
He added: "People need to know, if they are tradespeople who quote for work, get payment with no intention of doing it, to prison they will go."
Bethell was jailed for 29 months