A rogue trader has been jailed for 32 weeks after he took cash for roofing and painting and decorating jobs which he never even started.

Leo Craig Dale, of Drury Terrace, Douglas, admitted taking £1,850 from two women for two jobs which he never did.

His victims people tried to contact Dale, who had been advertising his services on Manx Classifieds online, but he would not respond to messages.

He admitted two offences of deception and fraud by false representation.

Dale initially denied the offences but was said to have done so in order to avoid spending Christmas in prison.

Prosecutor Barry Swain said a woman told police she had contacted Dale on June 16 in response to him offering to do some roofing work. He agreed to do the job but told her he needed £675 up front to buy materials.

The woman transferred the money to Dale but said by July 1 he had still not started work despite her making numerous attempts to contact him. He was said to have stopped responding to her.

In August, he was interviewed by police and confirmed he had received the £675. Dale said he had withdrawn £650 of it but had lost it later in the evening. He was therefore unable to buy the materials but admitted he had made no effort to contact the woman.

fraudulent

Dale said he had intended to pay the woman back but accepted that, in taking the money, he had been fraudulent.

On August 9, 2017, another woman said she responded to Dale’s online advert for painting and decorating.

He quoted £2,350 but said he would need £1,175 up front to buy materials and start work the next day. She paid but he failed to turn up. She tried to contact him via Facebook but he said he had been ill and had family matters to attend to.

The matter was reported to the Office of Fair Trading and then the police. In interview, Dale admitted he agreed to do the work and accepted the £1,175. He said he had put the money in his partner’s bank account but had then been ill and had to deal with a family matter in Scotland.

Dale said he had bought the materials from B&Q and had enlisted two others to help but the complainant then told him she no longer wanted the job done. But Dale could provide no evidence of having purchased the materials and said he had left them outside his home but they had gone.

plea

He entered a basis of plea saying at the time he had advertised his services he had intended to do the work.

Mr Swain said Dale had ’added insult to injury’ by initially saying he was going to take the matter to the small claims court to recover money for materials. And one woman had to change her locks because she had given Dale a key which he had never returned.

Advocate David Reynolds said: ’Clearly there are issues of breaches of trust. He has advertised his services and not started work and there has not been a refund.

’They were not sophisticated offences. At the time he advertised he did want to be able to work. His partner had a baby and he wanted to spend some time with his child so he put off his guilty pleas and trials were listed.’

The advocate said Dale suffered from diabetes and had been unable to work but had spoken to his GP about returning to work. ’He felt if he worked on a self-employed basis, he’d be in a position to work out when he could and couldn’t work.’

Magistrates were critical of Dale denying the offences to avoid custody at Christmas.