Fraudster roofer told "jail term not a day too long"

Sean Aaron Cross, aged 28, of Ewing Way, was one of a pair of fraudsters, posing as tradesmen, who conned an 83-year-old Reading householder by charging £3,000 for roofing work, assessed to have been worth just £100.
Mr Cross was jailed for 34 weeks at Reading Crown Court, earlier this year, having pleaded guilty to fraud.
However on Tuesday (8), Lord Justice Laws, Mr Justice Globe and Mr Justice Jay, sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, heard him appeal against the length of his term, claiming he was treated too harshly.
The court heard Mr Cross's accomplice had initially demanded £9,000 from the householder to carry out work on the roof.
That demand was eventually reduced to £3,000, leaving the victim thinking it was a good deal.
But when Mr Cross turned up to carry out the work, he in fact provided services worth only about £100.
Mr Cross’s lawyers argued that his sentence ought to have been less, as he had no previous conviction for fraud, and was the secondary party to the offence, carrying out the work rather than negotiating the fee.
But Mr Justice Jay noted that the Crown Court judge had commented that the Reading area "sees on a regular basis people posing as roofers, renderers and tilers, targeting the elderly."
Saying that Mr Cross had a "shocking record including offences of dishonesty", he added: “This was just such a case carefully perpetrated on a vulnerable victim.
"This sentence was undeniably harsh, but not manifestly excessive.”