A MAN who was part of a gang who conned a 74-year-old woman out of her £17,000 life savings has been jailed for 15 months.

At York Crown Court yesterday, Christopher Paul Long, 34, of Royal Avenue in Scarborough, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud against the Scarborough woman for roofing work at her property in December 2015 and January last year.

Long, along with other men, told the victim they needed to replace her roof and could do the work for £15,000.

She negotiated with them and the price was reduced to £12,000.

The men told her they needed £7,000 in cash up front to pay for materials, scaffolding and skip hire, which she gave to them.

They also told her that a further £5,000 in cash was needed to replace the rafters, and that specialist equipment had to be hired and a £5,000 deposit was required.

The men then told the woman they would do the work on January 11 but never returned.

She lost a total of £17,000.

A surveyor appointed by North Yorkshire Trading Standards concluded that the whole roof could have been replaced for £7,500.

He also found there was no evidence of any structural issues or deficiencies with the timbers of the roof and a full re-roofing was not, in fact, required.

The case was brought after an investigation by so-called 'Operation Gauntlet', a multi-agency team based at North Yorkshire County Council Trading Standards.

It represents the 23rd conviction in the last 12 months for such offenders.

Sentencing Long, Judge Andrew Stubbs said: “The effects on the victim were substantial. You took her future from her. Your robbed her of her confidence, her security and her financial well-being. All to make easy money.”

Speaking after the case, county councillor Andrew Lee said: “Yet again we see unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable members of our communities and defrauding them of their life savings.”

The victim in the case said: “Apart from the feeling so naïve for being taken in by these men, the loss of the money is obviously the most important thing.

"I have no ‘spare’ money left for emergencies now and I can’t hire help in the house and garden for the jobs which are too heavy or difficult for me. 

"Having never been in this situation before, I find it very upsetting."