{"id":475846,"date":"2026-03-14T21:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/475846\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T21:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:09:15","slug":"we-gave-wirral-builder-20000-to-fix-our-roof-and-then-he-disappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/475846\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We gave Wirral builder \u00a320,000 to fix our roof and then he disappeared’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Williams was sentenced to 32 months in prison earlier this month\"liverpoolecho\"<\/p>\n

11:50, 14 Mar 2026Updated 15:38, 14 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

\"Les<\/p>\n

Les Roberts was left thousands of pounds out of pocket<\/p>\n

A Merseyside dad has revealed how he and more than a dozen others were scammed by a fraudulent builder<\/a> who pocketed more than \u00a375,000 but never completed the work. For the best part of four years, Richard Williams took money from 16 victims<\/a> for whom he said he would complete various building jobs.<\/p>\n

Once the majority of the contracted price was paid, Williams would fail to show at the victims<\/a>\u2019 addresses to complete the work, leaving them with incomplete projects which they had to have finished off by a third party contractor.<\/p>\n

What work was done was of poor quality and in many cases needed to be removed and re-done. In some cases, money was taken and no work was done at all.<\/p>\n

The total value of the fraud was \u00a375,840. Williams, 53, of Wimbrick Hey, Moreton, Wirral<\/a>, was sentenced to 32 months in prison earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Les Roberts, from Upton<\/a>, was one of the 16 people who were hoodwinked by Williams when he had work done in February 2023. He said: \u201cOur roof was knackered so we thought we\u2019d get a loft conversion instead as we could do with the extra room. One of my partner\u2019s friends had his number and he came round and said he could do the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d just been let down by another builder who said he didn\u2019t want the work which left us in a bit of a desperate situation. He said he\u2019d do it for a reasonable price.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all looked above board and at the start of the job, it was going really well, it was flying. It was meant to take six to eight weeks and during this he asked us for money for parts, for his staff, which we gave him, but kept some back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that first eight weeks, his visits were less and less frequent. This was as winter was coming and the work still wasn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was covered so the rain couldn\u2019t get through to it but we couldn\u2019t actually get into the loft to see what he had done because he\u2019d blocked it off. There was a way he\u2019d got around building regulations too by just taking pictures of the work rather than a visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started making up excuses why he couldn\u2019t do the work. In the end we said forget it, winter was approaching, we got another guy in at cost to us as we\u2019d already lost money.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext door but one to us had a garage conversion done by him as well, he\u2019s been doing this since 2019. He actually left a live plug socket outside the house exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The state Williams left Les’ loft in<\/p>\n

Les, who hosts the Blue Room Everton podcast, said compensation was not able to be clawed back from Williams after he made off with his money. Les said he and his partner Louise sank at least \u00a320,000 into the work the builder had promised to complete.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHe seemed really personable, your classic conman who could talk a good game then loses interest. Instead of kicking off, we actually wanted to keep him on side because he had our money.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor months we\u2019d be trying to be nice, which feels pathetic in hindsight. It caused a strain on relationships, we\u2019re still having to pay off loans we took out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can actually use the room now, but it still isn\u2019t finished. It\u2019s been horrible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to pay an extra \u00a33,000 because he hadn\u2019t stuck the rubber roof down. He\u2019s terrible at what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A gofundme has been set up for those impacted by the conman builder, with an aim of raising the \u00a375,000 lost by those impacted. Les said Williams\u2019 victims had shared stories of how they had been scammed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The state Williams left Les’ loft in<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cA guy got in touch to say he\u2019d had the same thing happen to him. Trading Standards said they had a case against him which took time to build.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we went to court, we met up with about eight others and shared stories and it came out that he was doing the same everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Les added how Williams\u2019 sentencing had ultimately been bittersweet for him and the other victims. He said: It\u2019s satisfying to a degree but it doesn\u2019t make anything better or help the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully he won\u2019t be able to do it again when he comes out and this acts as a deterrent. When we went to court, we met up with about eight others and shared stories and it came out that he was doing the same everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cllr Stuart Bingham, Cheshire West and Chester Council cabinet member for neighbourhood pride and community safety, said: \u201cI am really pleased that our Trading Standards officers were able to help these residents get justice. The damage done by rogue traders goes beyond money and is a real threat to their victim\u2019s mental and physical health.<\/p>\n

\u201cRogue traders like this face going to jail, big fines and compensation orders. Our Trading Standards Officers work hard to protect residents in Cheshire West and Chester from this type of fraudulent business activity, but they need your help.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease report anyone you think may be a \u2018cowboy builder\u2019 so that we can bring them to justice.\u201d To donate to the gofundme, visit Fundraiser by susie laughland : Help 16 families regain \u00a375k after devastating builder fraud<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Williams was sentenced to 32 months in prison earlier this month 11:50, 14 Mar 2026Updated 15:38, 14…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,1343,59,8934,2206,56,54,55,113248],"class_list":["post-475846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-courts","tag-gb","tag-premium","tag-real-lives","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-upton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}