A trader who admitted to taking money from consumers without doing the required work has been convicted of 18 counts of fraud or theft and jailed.
Paul Johnston was sentenced to 65 weeks in prison at Croydon Crown Court on Monday 11 May after previously pleading guilty to 10 counts of theft, contrary to Section 1 of the Theft Act 1968 and 8 counts of Fraud, contrary to Section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006.
The prosecution followed a joint investigation between Bromley Trading Standards and National Trading Standards, which had also shown that the victims had paid a total of £10,432.20 to Mr Johnston, known to most of his victims as Paul Cook.
In the case of all 10 thefts, the Bromley based trader responded to online requests for work posted by consumers, either for fencing or gardening related work. When the customer had subsequently paid or paid a deposit for the work following the acceptance of the supplied estimate, the trader then made a range of personal excuses as to why the work could not take place and then refused to refund paid monies, ignoring the persistent requests of consumers.
Bromley’s Trading Standards team started to investigate the Bromley borough-based trader following an initial report in 2020, with a number of reports from across London and Kent coming forward in 2022, with the National Trading Standards’ Tri Regional Investigation Team providing additional support to Bromley’s trading standards officers.
A Bromley Council spokesperson said, “The scale of this investigation was immense, and we are grateful for the support of the National Trading Standards team who helped secure this conviction. It is yet another example of our work to protect residents, where we are all advised to be highly careful when hiring traders. This individual was highly persuasive, but it is a reminder of the importance to secure multiple estimates for work as well as to check references to make sure the person you are seeking to hire is Bonafide.”
A National Trading Standards spokesperson, said, “Mr Johnston’s conviction highlights the serious consequences of taking money from consumers without delivering the promised work, whether for fencing, double glazing, or gardening. I commend the Trading Standards teams whose thorough investigation has held this trader accountable and helped consumers from similar exploitation.”
“It’s important that the public feels confident when hiring traders - and that trust is built on holding those who deceive others to account.”
“I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of similar scams to report it to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.”
In the first case, in August 2020, Paul Johnston of The Door Company, High Street, Bromley, responded to an online request to upgrade double glazing for a consumer’s home in Mitcham, with the consumer subsequently paying deposits of £2360. In November 2020, Mr Johnston contacted the consumer to say that window fitting was not possible on the agreed date as his mother had died, with other fitting dates cancelled because of poor weather. The consumer attempted to make contact a number of times in the coming weeks and months, with the windows still not installed.
In the following nine cases, Paul Cook of All Trades Property Maintenance, of Elmers End Road, Beckenham responded to online work requests, with prospective customers requesting a range of gardening related jobs, from new patios to the installation of fences and other garden related work.
Residents are reminded that they can use Trading Standards Checked, the council’s fair-trader directory to find local, safe, and reliable traders. Visit www.bromley.gov.uk/tradingstandardschecked to hire approved businesses for a range of services in the home maintenance sector.
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For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Head of Public Affairs on 020 8461 7670 or email Andrew.Rogers@bromley.gov.uk.