Labourer admits over £50,000 fraud on elderly client for overcharged gardening jobs

A callous labourer admitted defrauding an elderly pensioner out of more that £50,000 after he repeatedly overcharged the 90-year-old victim for gardening jobs.

Landscaper Michael Gorman gained the trust of elderly Roy Wilcox over several months and persuaded him to have several gardening tasks done at his home for which Gorman would then overcharge by up to tens of thousands of pounds.

The 46-year-old labourer notably charged his elderly client an eye-watering £42,000 for the installation of artificial grass in his garden – when the work was in fact worth only £1,880.

Gorman appeared before a judge at Reading Crown Court in Berkshire yesterday and admitted the fraud – but was ironically spared immediate custody so that he could make arrangements for the care of his own elderly mother.

Judge Heather Norton however told the defendant she was only adjourning his sentencing by a few weeks – and that he would most likely find himself behind bars by the end of the month.

She said: “It is ironic that I have been persuaded to adjourn this sentence for you to make arrangements for the care of someone who is also an elderly person.”

She added: “This is an extremely serious case. You targeted a very vulnerable person.”

The prosecution told Judge Norton the victim, Mr Wilcox, lived alone and in “poor conditions” at his Caversham home in Reading, Berks., when he was targeted by Gorman.

Prosecutor Amber Athill said: “He (Mr Wilcox, has no close family and is inherently vulnerable.”

The judge heard that Gorman’s defrauding of the pensioner took place over several months between November 2021 and April 2022 after Mr Wilcox asked him to remove some vegetation and an old wire fence from his garden.

Prosecutor Ms Athill said: “Mr Wilcox decided that he wanted some small trees to be removed from his garden and he read an advert Mr Gorman had put out in magazines which said: ‘We do a good job for a fair price’.

“The advert also offered a 10 per cent discount for OAPs.”

The elderly man contacted Gorman on November 5, 2021, and on November 8 the labourer attended his address to remove the trees and wire fence from his garden.

After he completed the work, Gorman asked for £900 and Mr Wilcox paid the sum – but was not given a receipt.

The prosecutor added: “There was no discussion of what the price would be before the work was started.”

Gorman then suggested to Mr Wilcox he should get a new fence installed.

The pensioner agreed and Gorman returned to his address four days later to install the new fence – for which he later charged £1,400.

Prosecutor Ms Athill said: “Between the 13th and 20th of November, there were further calls between the defendant and Mr Wilcox.

“Although it is unclear who suggested the work should be done first, Mr Wilcox agreed to install concrete paving on his property.”

Gorman charged Mr Wilcox £12,500 for the concrete paving of his garden.

The probation expert later calculated Gorman’s work was in fact worth £4,068 – meaning the pensioner had been overcharged by nearly £8,000.

Over the next few months, Gorman remained in touch with Mr Wilcox by phone.

Ms Athill told the judge Gorman once knocked on Mr Wilcox’s door and asked for £40 in cash for fuel – which the pensioner diligently handed to him.

She said: “Two days later, on April 8, Gorman telephoned him twice and on the same day Mr Wilcox wrote the defendant a cheque for £500 which was the deposit for the installation of artificial grass.”

The judge heard that Gorman had written in his notebook a quote for this job which amounted to £2,300 – but this quote was never communicated to Mr Wilcox.

Gorman installed the artificial grass in Mr Wilcox’s garden on April 19, 2022 – and told the elderly man he was owed £42,000 for his work.

Ms Athill said: “Although Mr Wilcox thought the price was steep, he trusted the defendant and wrote out a cheque for the full amount.”

The Crown’s probation officer later calculated the installation of the artificial grass was only worth £1,880.70 – meaning Gorman had knowingly overcharged the elderly pensioner by some £40,000.

As all the times before, there was no discussion of what the price would be before the work was started and no written quote, contract, or invoice was produced.

Gorman’s callous enterprise began to unravel when Mr Wilcox’s bank prevented the £42,000 from leaving his account, thinking the spending was suspicious.

As the money was not coming into his account, Gorman went back to Mr Wilcox’s address and complained he had not been paid.

This time, he asked for £38,000 and Mr Wilcox wrote out a second cheque for that amount – but this one too was stopped and Mr Wilcox’s bank called the police.

The judge heard how Mr Wilcox had been persuaded to spend vast amounts of money on his garden despite his home’s interior being in “poor condition.”

The prosecutor said: “It will be clear to any visitor or tradesman that Mr Wilcox was vulnerable and therefore an easy target to befriend and defraud.”

The judge also heard how the pensioner still blamed himself for what happened, despite Gorman’s clear culpability.

In his victim impact statement, the OAP said: “I requested all the work carried out at my house. Mr Gorman is very friendly and did the work quickly and well.

“I trusted he would give me a fair price – but I did not know or had any way to check that the cost was reasonable or not.

“I just wanted the work done and it is my fault if I did not look into the matter further.”

Adam Williams, Gorman’s defence counsel, told the judge the defendant had suffered from depression since the death of his father three years ago and was needed to look after his elderly mother who lives alone in Cheshire.

Judge Norton agreed to adjourning the sentence by a few weeks so that Gorman could make arrangements for his mother to be looked after in the very likely event he ended up behind bars.

Gorman, from Star Hill, Hook, Hampshire, was ordered to return to Reading Crown Court for sentencing on January 29 this year.