A scammer from Southampton, 36-year-old Lawrence Martin, has been told to pay back a small fine as part of his punishment for crimes that fraudulently lined his pockets to the tune of thousands of pounds.
Martin was given a five-year prison sentence in February for trade and committing theft. He made clients pay tens of thousands of pounds as deposits to make sure the work would start, and then he said more work had to be done because costs were going up so fast.
Martin’s fraud included a woman who was getting work done to help her dying father-in-law. One husband and wife lost more than £100,000 because of his grift, and dozens of other people were left with disrepaired houses and empty bank accounts after losing all of their life savings.
The cheat wasn’t licensed to do roofing work, but he kept asking for more money even though the job would never be finished.
Over almost five years, the father of four left customers on the Isle of Wight in tears. Some had to change the locks on their homes to keep him out. He did such lousy work that many people canceled the rest of their plans, asked for their money back, and had to pay thousands more for professionals to fix the damage he caused.
Although Martin admitted to one count of fraud and two counts of dishonest trade, he was jailed for five years at Southampton Crown Court, Hants, for his “disgraceful conduct.”
When he was sentenced in February, Mr. Crorie told the court that he had broken the law twice: once as sole head of the Eastleigh-based company CLJ Roofing and again with his personal bank account, from January 2018 to October 2022. Some of his weakest clients were a widow, people with disabilities, and the family of a man who was dying. Customers grumbled, and Martin gave them reasons like his mother was going to die soon and problems with suppliers, workers, other customers, and cars.
The Rated People website helped Martin attract many new buyers. Some people’s brothers stopped talking to them after recommending Martin’s services because his work was so bad.
In a head-scratcher, the court ordered Martin to pay back just £108.
