Pensioner recovering from cancer left with £20,000 bill after being fleeced by rogue trader

Walter and Ann Aldridge were left with £20,000 to pay on the back of shoddy work overseen by Guisborough’s Andrew Padgett. A poorly fitted roof was tiled by an electrician, their living room floor was left uneven, and electrics installed at the Poplar Grove home were unsafe.

Teesside Crown Court even heard how a plasterer turned up with a broken arm on one occasion. A hearing on Wednesday was told how the Stockton couple had to wash their dishes in the bath and cook using a halogen burner, as they were without a kitchen for weeks on end.

Costs charged by Padgett grew before Walter and Ann lost patience and refused to pay any more in April 2021. The rogue trader was eventually handed a 30 week suspended sentence and ordered to pay £8,000 in compensation – £6,000 to another couple he ripped off in Marske, and £2,000 to Wally and Ann.

But Wally, who is on the mend after a recent bowel cancer operation, wasn’t pleased with the penalties handed down this week. The 78-year-old added: “I’d rather he got a year than we got the £2,000 – that wouldn’t even cover the roof (costs). It’s a slap in the face.”

Padgett’s business, CPM Build and Design Ltd, was dissolved in August 2021.

Judge Christopher Smith told the court he wanted Padgett working to help pay off the money he’d taken. He stopped short of sending the 45-year-old, of Redcar Road, to prison after reading the positive references from his former partner and former clients, and consideration of the support he provided for his young daughter.

The judge said: “What I am saying is, by a very narrow margin indeed, I have decided to draw back from locking you up. I don’t think I can think of a case where anyone comes closer than this – certainly not in recent times.”

The court had also heard how Padgett had committed VAT fraud against another couple in their 60s in Marske – dishonestly charging them almost £13,000 extra when he wasn’t registered. An unsafe underfloor heating system and a leaking roof was fitted there.

Judge Smith said the VAT was a way of “fleecing the couple” – and later told the court all he had seen was pound signs when the Aldridges asked for work to be done. Walter and Ann have lived in their home for 43 years.

They said the floor had been fitted three times in all. It cost them more than £15,000 for all of Padgett’s shoddy work and another £5,000 to put it right.

The trader was handed down a 30 week sentence suspended for two years after pleading guilty to unfair trading and one fraud count. He will also face 200 hours of unpaid work and a six month curfew on top of the £8,000 compensation.

Judges give their full detailed reasons for their sentence in court based on the law, the case, and sentencing guidelines.

There is a strong constitutional convention that they don’t comment further outside court. Stockton Council’s trading standards team and legal officials brought Padgett to book.

Coun Norma Stephenson, cabinet member for community safety, welcomed the sentence in the aftermath. She added: “It should serve as a warning to fraudulent traders that they will be made to face the consequences of their actions.

“We will always come down hard on people who flout the law in order to protect our residents.”