Bogus workman conned Scots out of £70k after claiming he needed cash for materials

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A bogus workman conned unsuspecting customers out of nearly £70,000 by failing to carry out large-scale projects in their homes.

Lawrence Kettles promised to fit bathrooms and kitchens for customers and persuaded them to fund him in advance to start the projects.

But Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Kettles never carried out the work and instead fled with tens of thousands of pounds from the householders he duped.Kettles repeatedly badgered customers to give him large sums of money by claiming he needed to buy materials for the work he was doing in their homes.In one case, he asked a customer to fund a new kitchen and timber frame which he had ordered from a supplier.However, the customer was unaware that they were being conned out of more than £33,000 because Kettles had returned the kitchen for a refund and pocketed the cash himself.Kettles, 52, of Carnoustie, admitted obtaining a total of £67,250 by fraud over the space of a few months during 2015.He admitted obtaining £27,500 by fraud from Ronald McDonald in relation to work he failed to carry out at his home in Gibson Street, Arbroath, between 1 February and 30 June.He admitted agreeing to carry out building work costing £31,500 and told Mr McDonald he would take around 12 weeks to complete the project.Kettles admitted inducing his victim to pay him several sums of money by bank transfer by pretending he needed to purchase bathroom fittings and pay for labour.

He failed to complete the work or supply the materials and obtained £27,500 by fraud.Kettles also admitted conning Gordon Milne out of £33,850 by pretending he would complete work at his Dundee home between 5 March and 26 August.He told Mr Milne the work would cost £24,000 and induced him to make payments