by Keith Hunt

A heartless bogus builder who conned pensioners out of almost £800,000 has been ordered to pay back £225,000.

Moses Mead, of Springhead Road, Northfleet, was given four months to hand over the amount. He was found to have benefited to the tune of £782,685.

His partner in crime, Christopher Latty, of Victoria Street, Gillingham, benefited by £60,000, but because he was said to have no funds, a nominal order of £1 was made against him.

Mead, 26, was jailed for four years in July last year for 11 fraud offences. Latty, 39, was sentenced to three years for two fraud offences.

A judge at Maidstone Crown Court heard how the callous pair conned the cash out of elderly victims by tricking them into believing their homes were in danger of collapse.

The pensioners ended up paying for costly and unnecessary repairs. One victim in his 60s handed over £522,807, having sold an Audi car, a share portfolio and eventually his home in Barnehurst, near Bexleyheath, to pay the men.
Dennis Judge, 80, from Walderslade, was fleeced of £232,000 for work which amounted to little more than block-paving to his driveway and a coat of damp-proof paint to bricks.

Another victim, 83-year-old Joyce Harding, from Chatham, was tricked out of £9,000.

Mary Boswell, 79, also from Chatham, paid £10,400 after she was told by Mead that she needed extensive roof repair.

Victims were targeted throughout Kent, south east London, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Hampshire over almost three years.

Judge Martin Joy said the scam had a great impact on victims aged between 66 and 91.

The judge heard this week that Mead was in an open prison and due for release on licence next January.

"He has come here under his own steam and is a prisoner on trust," said his lawyer John Fowlers.

Mr Fowlers said the amount available to be seized from Mead was £225,000. He planned to sell horses at fairs, as well as vehicles.

Ordering two years imprisonment in default, Judge Joy said it was "highly desirable" that victims should be compensated as soon as possible.