Holy water conman ordered to pay more than £190,000
A rogue trader who grossly overcharged four vulnerable and elderly women to pocket nearly £130,000 has been ordered to pay a confiscation order.
The case was brought against Simon Doherty, of Hodgkinson Road, Kirkby in Ashfield, by Dudley Council’s trading standards.
The conman, who lured in victims with gifts and false claims of faith and friendship, has already voluntarily paid back the amounts he overcharged to those he targeted.
Doherty is currently serving a 56-month prison sentence, having pleaded guilty to fraud in 2022. However, Dudley Council Trading standards team pursued a confiscation application, and an order was made at Wolverhampton Crown Court this week. He must pay £193,994 over the next three months under the Proceeds of Crime Act, or he will face a further three-year imprisonment in default.
In the case, the court heard how the conman pocketed at least £129,500 for the work at three homes, a sum which the surveyor said was an overcharge of nearly £90,000, often trading as Distinctive Paving Building Solutions Ltd.
Doherty charged a woman in her 80s from Halesowen £26,500 for six days of work in 2017. The work included cleaning and sealing her drive, installing a step and a shed, and block paving work and an independent surveyor ruled the work should have only cost £6,228.75, an overcharge of more than £20,000.
In 2019 the conman targeted a 91-year-old who was overcharged nearly £15,000 according to the surveyor, after handing over £23,500 for repairs to her roof, porch and patio. Doherty had initially knocked on her door offering to cement down two roof tiles he said were loose, quoting just £25.
The conman then moved on to the home of two further victims, friends who had lived together for more than 35 years. In the months after, and while he was due to be attending court following a summons for offences against the earlier victims, he convinced the pair that he was a “fellow Christian”. He brought holy water and wine to the house as gifts and charged them more than £79,000 for work the surveyor valued at £24,910.
Councillor Ian Beavan, cabinet member responsible for trading standards, said:
I would encourage anyone with concerns about rogue traders to get in touch with our team for help and support and remember the council’s fix-a-home scheme can help people to find reputable and safe traders in the borough.
For anyone concerned about falling victim to rogue builders, Dudley Council offers a list of approved tradespeople to carry out maintenance work. To find out more, visit www.dudley.gov.uk and search fix-a-home.