9-years jail for rogue traders who conned elderly Newbury homeowners

The victims all lived in Newbury on a mobile home site.
The victims were contacted by the traders who told them they could fit insulation to the underside of their home.
One victim paid £1,150 - but a surveyor instructed by West Berkshire Council trading standards officers found
that they had fitted only a small area of insulation near the inspection hatch but not the entire floor space.
The second victim paid £250 was found to have had no insulation fitted at all.
The third victim, who paid around £1,500 by bank card, was also found to have only a small area fitted.
The traders then used that victim’s bank card details to obtain goods from a wholesaler in Newark, although this
transaction was subsequently reversed by the bank.
All three victims were elderly and unable to check that the work had been carried out.
They were preyed on by Gavin James Findley, 30, of Elizabeth Road, Newark, Nottinghamshire, and William King, aged 35, of Tolney Lane, Newark.
Over the course of the investigation it became clear that the traders were operating nationwide, duping victims in North Yorkshire, Devon, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire and Humberside as well as in Newbury.
At York Crown Court on Thursday, January 30, Findley and King admitted fraud by false representation and conspiracy to defraud.
King was jailed for six years while Findley was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
A third defendant, who was part of the fraud gang but was not thought to have committed offences in Newbury - 20-year-old Todd Berridge from Marshland Drive, Holbeach in Lincolnshire - was sentenced to 12 months’ youth detention, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 180 hours’ unpaid community work.
West Berkshire's Executive Member for Trading Standards, Dominic Boeck (Con, Thatcham and South Crookham), said: "This is yet another example of how elderly residents can fall foul of this type of systematic and organised crime.“In the west Berkshire cases, the matters were reported and the trading standards service were able to investigate and link with colleagues around the country to bring this matter satisfactory conclusion.”
He added: “We rely greatly on intelligence from the community and urge anyone with any concerns about the activity of traders working on their property or of friends, neighbours and relatives to contact us immediately on 01635 519930. If it is believed there is a crime in process or someone is at imminent risk they should dial 999."