Charmouth: Gardening fraudsters face jail (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Charmouth: Gardening fraudsters face jail

10:25am Thursday 19th November 2009

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TWO Bridport men who swindled a frail pensioner have been warned they face jail.

A jury found Thomas Andrew Greig and Andrew Anthony Cooper, both 36, guilty of fraud after hearing how they charged the then 77-year-old David House nearly £7,000 for £300-worth of gardening.

The pair will be sentenced for their crime on December 18 alongside Thomas Essex, 23, of St Andrew’s Road, Bridport, who pleaded guilty to a charge of transferring criminal property.

The jury reached their verdict after a six-day trial in which Dorchester Crown Court heard how Greig, of St Mary’s Place, Bridport and Cooper, of Orchard Crescent, Bridport, cleared Mr House’s garden in Bridge Road, Charmouth, in April of last year.

Mr House, now living in a nursing home, was too ill to take the stand and give evidence against the men.

The court heard that Cooper has 17 convictions for 35 offences, going back to 1992, while Greig has 28 convictions for 39 offences going back to 1991.

Judge Roger Jarvis said: “You have been convicted by this jury of a serious offence.

“There’s a strong possibility each of you will be sent to prison.”

Earlier Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr House’s garden had become ‘heavily overgrown’ by 2008, when Cooper and Greig began working on clearing the area, along with Essex.

He said that between April 12 and April 22 the three men were seen clearing away weeds and shrubs.

On April 23 they were stopped in their van and arrested after a cheque apparently made out by Mr House to Essex for £1,850 bounced.

Mr Ellacott said: “Further investigations showed two other cheques were put into Mr Greig’s account, one for £3,000 and another for £2,000.

“The Crown’s case is that the work they carried out is valued at perhaps about £300.

"There is also evidence that writing on the cheques is written by Mr Essex. The amounts written on to the cheques do not represent fair payment for the work that was carried out.”

Professional gardener Howard Moss of Bridport-based Moss Garden Services told the jury he estimated the work would have cost £300.

Holiday park worker Mark Osborne said he first noticed a green van driving around Charmouth the same month with three men inside and saw that it had ‘Gardening Services’ written on the side with ‘mobile’ and ‘office’ printed, but had no telephone numbers.

The jury was read transcripts from Greig’s interviews with police following his arrest, when he told officers he had spent one day at Mr House’s home de-weeding and clearing the garden and was paid £100.

He refused to tell police who had set the job up and when asked whether it was Cooper and Essex he offered no comment. Greig said: “I’ve done a hard day’s work for the money I got.

“For the work I had done I would say that was a fair price.”

The court heard that in an interview Cooper, a scrap matel worker, told police he had never been to Mr House’s Bridge Road home.

The jury was told by a handwriting expert there was no conclusive evidence that handwriting on cheques seized by police belonged to Cooper and Greig.

David Lyons, defending, said: “Mr Greig was asked to do some cash-in-hand gardening.

“The conclusion of that day’s work was that he was presented with a cheque for £3,000.”

He added that Greig cashed the cheque and gave the cash to ‘two unknown males’, keeping back £100 as a day’s wages for gardening and £50 as a fee for the financial transaction. Greig, of St Mary’s Place, Bridport, told the jury that Essex had offered him a day of gardening work for £100.

He said when he completed the work on April 15 Essex asked him if he could cash a cheque from the homeowner into Greig’s account because his own was overdrawn.

Greig said when he saw the cheque was for £3,000 he ‘thought it was a lot of money’ but Essex said he had done other work, including roofing repairs at the house.

Greig said he paid the cheque into his account, withdrew the cash the following day and gave it to Essex. He said Essex gave him £100 for the work and a further £50 for cashing the cheque.

Greig said around a week later Essex asked him to cash another cheque for £2,000 and gave him £50 for doing so. He said: “If I thought that was payment for just the gardening work I wouldn’t have cashed them.”

Cooper, of Orchard Crescent, Bridport, refused to take the stand and give evidence.

Pre-sentence reports were ordered for Cooper and Grieg and they were released on conditional bail with reporting requirements.

Bridport Section Commander Inspector Alan Jenkins said he was delighted that after all the hard work by police and council officials the jury arrived at a guilty verdict.

The effects of this type of fraud were very detrimental to their victims and could have an enormous impact, he said.

“The public and the police will welcome these verdicts.

“These type of offences are despicable in nature and can have a long lasting impact on the victims and their friends and families.

“Both Dorset Police and Dorset County Council work very hard to secure convictions in what is a very complex area of law.

“It is hoped the sentences will act as a deterrence to other similarly minded offenders.”

Insp Jenkins added the three defendants were expected to be sentenced next month after reports are complied on them.

If the judge decides on a custodial sentence the men could be off the streets by Christmas, he added.

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