Pensioner’s complaint revealed paper trail leading to fraudster

But Richard and Jane Morris’s treatment at the hands of bogus drainage specialist Julian Donoher triggered an investigation that uncovered shameless acts of fraud across Yorkshire.

Mrs Morris, 65, a retired teacher, expected good service when she searched the telephone directory and called a seemingly reputable firm advertised under the slogan “Your Local Specialist”.

The next day, however, it was an unskilled convict from Derby who arrived to clear the drain at her Victorian terrace house in central Harrogate.

It was the first of several visits in November and December 2009.

“When he came I am afraid to say that he was very charming,” Mrs Morris said, “and when he left his receipt, he said ‘If you need any more help, I will come back’.”

Donoher and a colleague had cut into an external waste pipe and flushed water into it, but they had done nothing else to solve the problem. They charged Mrs Morris £330.

Within a week, the drain was flooded again and the two men were back.

They worked at the property for about an hour and sent a camera down the drain to survey its condition.

Donoher told Mrs Morris that roots had come through the pipe and the drain would have to be lined – at a cost of £5,500, which he insisted was the going rate.

Mrs Morris was charged £330 for that visit and told the work would start the following week.

When Donoher’s men returned, they spent several days at the house and dug a large hole in the garden but it was nowhere near the drain in question.

After filling the hole, Donoher told Mrs Morris that the drain had been lined and even said the work came with a 15-year guarantee.

“The next day, my son came and he fell through the paving because it hadn’t been put back properly,” she said. “He was very lucky that he wasn’t hurt.”

Only after Mrs Morris had contacted her insurance company did the true scale of Donoher’s deception come to light.

The company sent an inspector, who found there were still roots present in the drainage system and there was no sign of a liner.

‘It cost us about £6,000, but a man from the insurance company told us that it shouldn’t have cost more than £100,” Mrs Morris said.

“The money came from my husband’s savings and it was very difficult that Christmas.”

Repairing the damage caused by Donoher’s company cost the insurance firm £3,000.

After Mrs Morris reported her concerns to the police, North Yorkshire Council’s Trading Standards and Planning Services took on the case.

Trading standards officers then investigated other cheques that Donoher had cashed and followed a paper trail that led them to more victims.

They included fellow Harrogate resident Joan Smith, 82, who called one of Donoher’s firms, Orrery Universal, in September 2009 after she noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the drain at her house.

Donoher and another man arrived the next day and quoted her £220 to clean the drain, which she thought excessive but paid because she was so desperate to have the work done.

After Mrs Smith had written out a cheque, Donoher told her that they would have to dig up the area near her patio doors, at a cost of up to £750.

She refused to pay this and told the men not to return. A drainage expert from another firm later confirmed that the extra work was unnecessary.

Vera Hairsine, 82, from Selby, paid Donoher £680 in December 2009 to clear tree roots from her drain because her toilet was faulty.

A trading standards survey later found there was still mass root growth in the drain.

In a joint statement, Mr and Mrs Morris said: “We are grateful to those who, over many months, have painstakingly gathered evidence to expose the swindle.

“We hope that others will be alerted and that a worthwhile step has been taken to prevent this sort of crime happening again.”