Heartless builders who conned £1 million from pensioners are jailed for 27 years

FIVE members of a fraud gang led by a conman called Smarmy Jim have been jailed for a £1 million scam on elderly victims.

crime, prison, jail, locked up, jailed, fraud, gang, elderly, pensioners, smarmy jim, million, scam, victimsJames Brown Snr was put away for 10 years and William Brown was sentenced to seven years [PA]

James Brown and his heartless accomplices were sentenced to a total of 27 years and eight months after conning as many as 140 pensioners.

Posing as trust-worthy builders, the gang "inveigled" their way into the lives of lonely and seriously ill victims.

Scores were left penniless as Brown and the others over-charged them for shoddy work.

Time and again the gang returned to demand more cash after checking the assets of their victims.

Pensioners were pressurised into handing over their life savings and discouraged from talking to concerned relatives or friends.

Brown and his gang operated around Clacton and Colchester, Essex, between 2009 and 2013, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Detectives and trading standards officers built their case around 42 victims aged 65 to 99 but believe the actual number may be 140.

Some have since died and others trusted the men so much they will not accept they were duped.

Among the victims was Andrew Millar, aged 86, who had more than £157,000 stolen.

He said: "I do not consider myself to be someone who is easily hoodwinked but for quite some time I refused to believe I had been the victim of a fraud.

 Peter Biddle was jailed for four years and Van Purdy was locked away for two years [PA]

The tactics these criminals employed meant they would spend a great deal of time grooming their victims

Detective Chief Inspector Keith Davies

"This gang were very persuasive, and spent a long time building up my trust in them so that when they started to take advantage of me I didn't see it.

"The huge learning point for me from all of this is to never trust anyone who turns up at your home offering to do work, or provide a service, which just seems too good to be true, because it almost certainly won't be genuine."

Outside court Detective Chief Inspector Keith Davies said: "They left many of their victims penniless and they have shown no remorse whatsoever for the suffering and hardship they caused in order to line their own pockets.

"During the investigation we spoke to around 140 potential victims of this gang.

"I think it is mark of how persuasive they were that 73 of these people were unwilling to engage with us - many because they did not believe they had been exploited.

"The tactics these criminals employed meant they would spend a great deal of time grooming their victims; doing favours for them and odd jobs for free in order to build their trust.

"Once they had secured that trust, though, then they were ruthless in abusing it."

He added: "There can be no complacency around the scale of this type of fraud and I would urge the friends and family of any vulnerable elderly people to help protect them from these predators."

James Brown senior, 45, known as Smarmy Jim, of Colchester, was jailed for 10 years.

He admitted conspiracy to defraud, fraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

 James Brown Jnr was jailed for four years and eight months [PA]

His son, also James, 21, of Tiptree, Essex, admitted conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

He was jailed for four years and eight months.

William Brown, 49, no relation of Colchester, was sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

Peter Biddle, 66, of Ardleigh, Essex, got four years.

He admitted fraud and converting criminal property.

Van Purdy, 60, of Ardleigh, was jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to convert criminal property.

A sixth gang member, Anthony Symes, 59, of Weeley Heath, Essex, was given a two-year suspended sentence after he admitted fraud and conspiracy to convert criminal property.

Other victims included 87-year-old Gladys Gibbs who was widowed and suffered from bladder cancer.

She lost at least £123,000 as a result of unnecessary and often duplicated work on her home in Clacton, Mr Shaw said.

Helene Reeve Smith, 93, handed over £10,000.

Smarmy Jim Brown and William Brown were both caught on CCTV in a bank with Mrs Reeve Smith as she withdrew money just days before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Roger Walters, Essex County Council's cabinet member for trading standards, said he was pleased those responsible for this "dreadful crime" had been brought to justice.

He added: "There is help available and if other people have been victims of similar crimes, I would urge them to come forward."

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