A rogue builder has been jailed for 32 months and fined £136,000 after he left work unsafe and unfinished while demanding increasing payments from his clients.
Sean Gartland, 54, was sentenced at Derby Crown Court late last month after admitting to two counts of fraudulent trading and one of carrying on a business for fraudulent purposes at an earlier hearing in July.
Derbyshire County Council trading standards started investigating Gartland in January 2022 following complaints from customers, with victims including residents from Dronfield, Killamarsh, Bilsthorpe, Rotherham and Sheffield, according to the council.
The probe found practices described in court as “classic rogue trading”, with Gartland making promises to customers which were never kept, and demanding escalating sums of money to continue work he had started that, in most cases, was never finished or frequently done to a poor standard.
Dishonest excuses and abandoned work
Gartland also gave dishonest excuses when customers complained to him about lack of progress on projects. He abandoned projects with unfinished work that victims then had to pay others to put right and, in some cases, make safe.
The evidence against Gartland included knocking down a chimney breast and removing a supporting wall, leaving no remedial support in place at one couple’s home, as well as leaving a shell of an extension at the back of their house and their back garden full of rubbish and rubble.
Leaking roof and flooded light fittings
Work he carried out for a 91-year-old woman, arranged by her daughter, resulted in a leaking conservatory roof and light fittings filling with water.
Gartland, of Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, ran a company called New Looks Building Services from 2019 to 2021 and was a sole trader from 2021 to 2023 before registering a further company, Sawuk Building Services, between 2023 and 2024.
Derby County Council cabinet member for communities and safety, Dan Price, said: “Protecting residents from rogue traders is one of our top priorities and we welcome the sentence handed down to Gartland by the court. We hope it sends out a strong and clear message to others that this type of offending will not be tolerated.”
