'Devious conman' who ruthlessly exploited the elderly jailed for nine years

A ROGUE trader who scammed elderly residents out of more than £105,000 has been jailed for nine years.

Rogue trader Paul Gaffney who has been jailed for nine years after scamming elderly residents out of more than £105,000 Rogue trader Paul Gaffney who has been jailed for nine years after scamming elderly residents [SOLENT ]

Paul Gaffney, 51, approached vulnerable residents on their doorsteps pretending to sell services as a home repairman and contractor.

But he ripped off his elderly 'customers' with falsely or improperly done repairs - even accompanying them to their banks to ensure they paid him.

He would tell them their roof needed fixing before 'uncovering' major works that he said the victims needed doing urgently.

A year-long investigation by Hampshire Police and Portsmouth City Council found the fraudster from Cosham, Hants, scammed a total of 18 residents - including his next door neighbour.

One victim, retired architect Peter Bolt, 85, handed over £35,000 for work which was never carried out at his home in Southsea, Hants.

When you hear he had conned so many people in such an awful way, and deprived people of their life savings and probably caused them nervous breakdowns, I'm very relieved he's got such a large sentence

Peter Bolt, victim

Portsmouth Crown Court heard in April 2014, while Gaffney was already on bail for 18 charges of fraud, he drove Mr Bolt to his bank to withdraw cash.

But quick-thinking bank staff called the police and officers were waiting for Gaffney when he turned up at Mr Bolt's home the next day.

Mr Bolt said: "I was shocked when the police came round to see me.

"None of the work had been done but I had faith in him that he would do it.

"But, when I added it all up, I realised I had given him a huge amount of money.

"When you hear he had conned so many people in such an awful way, and deprived people of their life savings and probably caused them nervous breakdowns, I'm very relieved he's got such a large sentence.

"Hopefully he will never ever do such things again."

Gaffney would offer to fix electrics, boilers, windows and roofs despite having only painting and decorating qualifications.

He went back to the same vulnerable victims - many of whom had been proud professionals who felt humiliated and violated by his callous acts.

An 80-year-old widower from Cosham, Hants, was also conned out of £24,000 for work to his roof.

The great-grandfather blames himself for recommending Gaffney to a female friend in Southsea who handed over £1,500 for work that was never done.

He said: "I was in the forces and I have seen terrible things but nothing has affected me this badly.

"Really, I am responsible for what happened to my friend too. I can't sleep more than four hours a night.

"When it first happened I had to go to the doctors and she prescribed tranquillisers. I'm so ashamed of that.

"I went deaf for three days and my doctor said it was probably down to my nerves. I haven't told a soul about this apart from my friend."

His friend, an 81-year-old widow, said Gaffney haunts her dreams to this day, and had put her and friend through sheer hell.

"I have nightmares where he is in my house, I run for help, come back and he has cleared everything out.

"It took a lot of time and money to get my visa to visit my granddaughter in America and he took that too.

"Now I don't have the confidence to go over there. The thing is, he was so plausible.

"At Christmas he gave us a huge piece of Christmas cake because he said we were good customer."

The court heard the crime spree began in March 2012 when Gaffney approached next-door neighbour Terry Roberts.

Gaffney said he was having some work done on his roof and if they both had it done together it would work out cheaper.

Mr Roberts, who is elderly and suffers ill-health, agreed and handed over more than £3,000.

He had scaffolding at the front of his house for more than a year.

Meanwhile, Gaffney had taken a large chunk out of the roof, exposing it to the elements.

Mr Roberts and his wife had to spend their life savings putting it right.

In his defence, barrister Paul Barton said Gaffney, a married father of three, had an addiction to betting machines.

Earlier this month he made a full admission of his guilt but Judge Sarah Munro QC was scathing in her sentencing.

She said: "A case such as this instils in the public feelings of horror, disgust and fear - and rightly so.

"Your only qualification is as a painter and decorator.

"However you are a plausible and devious conman and used your charm and your good character to trick a very significant number of vulnerable and elderly, some very elderly, people.

"Many of them are retired professionals and many of them expressed their surprise they were duped by you despite their own intelligence and backgrounds.

She said Gaffney's neighbour, Mr Roberts, had suffered a 'year of hell' and added: "Some of your victims were in their 90s with ill health and disabled.

"You deprived them of their hard-earned sums of money." Gaffney pleaded guilty to a total of 20 charges and victims applauded as he was sentenced to nine years.

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