A COWBOY builder left a customer £20,000 out of pocket after he carried out shoddy work.

Matthew Garrett, director of Tredegar-based H-I-M Home Improvement & Maintenance Ltd, took on a job at Markham, near Blackwood.

He was hired to convert a garage at a house for a woman so her mother could live there and quoted her £27,000 for the work.

A contract was signed with an upfront payment of £10,000 being made, but Garrett hadn’t informed the customer of her right to cancel.

Another £10,000 was later handed over to Garrett.

MORE NEWS

The money had been given to the customer by her mother.

She soon became frustrated with the lack of progress when work did begin.

Tom Roberts, prosecuting, said: “The majority of the work had shortcomings which meant it did not comply with building regulations.”

He added how only 25 per cent of the work was ever completed after around two-thirds of the cash had been paid.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Garrett’s father had gone to address saying he was a customer and told the woman the defendant had no money and that “there was no point” pursuing for any of it through the courts.

Of the defendant’s offending, the customer said in a victim impact statement: “It has made my mother ill, she was very upset about it.”

Garrett, 38, of Penybont, Nantybwch, Tredegar, pleaded guilty to unfair and misleading commercial practices between January and December 2020.

His barrister Jeffrey Jones said in mitigation: “He accepts responsibility for what he did.”

He added that his client’s business had been hit with difficulties because of Covid and problems with suppliers.

The court was told the defendant was currently earning £1,200 a week.

The judge, Recorder David Elias QC, told Garrett: “This caused a great deal of anxiety.

“The work you did was deficient in a number of ways.

“You knew in your heart of hearts that the work was never going to be completed properly but you continued to assert it would be and you gave various excuses that were not right.”

The defendant was jailed for nine months, suspended for 18 months.

Garrett was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and complete an eight-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He must pay his victim £20,000 compensation as well as a statutory £156 surcharge.

Garrett was prosecuted by Caerphilly council trading standards.