A GANG of bogus workmen who duped a Coventry pensioner out of £3,000 last year have been jailed.
In March last year, Keith Bradnick of Pearson Avenue, Bell Green, was left with no guttering when four men, posing as workmen, visited his house and told him his gutters were rotting and needed repairing.
The men ripped out the gutters then drove Mr Bradnick to the bank and persuaded him to withdraw almost £3,000 cash. They never returned to fix the guttering.
The conmen, all from Leicestershire, were jailed after being snared in a regional crackdown on serious organised crime.
Thomas Connors senior, 53, Thomas Connors junior, 43, Lawrence Newbury, 41, and Karl O’Hara, 30, were jailed for a total of 12 years at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.
Co-accused John Connors, 39 received a 26 week sentence suspended for 12 months.
The gang committed a total of 29 crimes between 2007 and 2010 robbing elderly and vulnerable people of their money by telling them their roof or gutters needed repairing.
Coun Phil Townsend, cabinet member for community safety and equalities, said “We are delighted the courts recognise the seriousness of this type of crime which is reflected in the sentences imposed on this ruthless gang of conmen.
“Enquiries are now under way to recover the proceeds of these crimes and I sincerely hope that some, if not all, of the money stolen from Mr Bradnick can be returned to him.”
Click here to read the full story reported in The Coventry Telegraph.