A rogue trader who pleaded guilty to conning a vulnerable Watford woman with fraudulent charges over a leaking roof has been jailed for two years. 

Billy Smith, 42, of Mansion Lane caravan site in Iver, Buckinghamshire, had pleaded guilty to four offences relating to work carried out on the victim’s home in October 2012 and July 2013, at St Albans Crown Court in July. He was sentenced to two years at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, August 29. 

The conviction follows an investigation by Hertfordshire County Council Trading Standards into repairs made to the victim’s leaking roof, first in October 2012 and again in July 2013. Smith carried out initial repairs on the roof, and then when the problem returned, claimed the new leak was not connected with the previous one he had repaired and invoiced her for further work. 

Trading standards officers paid an expert to examine Smith’s work and concluded that major parts of the job as listed on both invoices had not been carried out and much of what little work had been done was of very poor quality. 

Smith was given two years for each of the three fraud offences to run concurrently.