A PAIR of bungling builders have been jailed for ripping off vulnerable victims for thousands of pounds worth of unnecessary work.
Jack Heywood and Jamie Gascoigne fleeced the victims out of almost £70,000 after they targeted the two elderly homeowners and conned out of their money.
The first victim was left more than £60,000 out of pocket after shoddy work was carried out on his Guisborough home over a four month period in 2018.
Heywood, pictured below, and an accomplice – believed to be Gascoigne but he was not charged with the fraud – were spotted by neighbours carrying out the work on the pensioner's home and were so concerned that they took the registration number of the van, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Paul Rooney, prosecuting, said a search of Heywood's bank accounts discovered cheques for £32,665 and £28,100 had been paid into his business account and a further £2,600 was put into his personal account.
A victim impact statement from the victim's family said the vulnerable pensioner had been left anxious and on the verge of being penniless, facing the possibility of not being able to afford the care home costs for his father who is in his 90s.
It read: "We think he feels guilty that he has let his father down."
Ian West, representing Heywood who was appearing in court via videolink from a mental health unit, urged the judge to pass a minimal sentence as he was already serving eight and a half years for assault and attempted robbery.
Pictured below, Gascoigne's victim was left more than £1,6000 out of pocket after the dodgy builder carried out sub-standard work on her Stockton home.
Mr Rooney said the defendant targeted the dementia sufferer and was only stopped when a family member caught him working at her home and checked the victim's bank account.
In a victim impact statement, her family said she had been 'reduced to a shadow of her former self' by the fraud.
His barrister, Rod Hunt said his client had pleaded guilty to fraud while serving a sentence for a similar offence.
Judge Stephen Ashurst said the offences had a devastating affect on the two vulnerable victims.
Heywood was sentenced to two years to run consecutively with his current term, while Gascoigne was jailed for a further 12 months.
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