A fraudster builder who left a customer more than £60,000 out of pocket has been jailed for almost four years.

Adam Routledge, 36, of Stenhills Crescent, Runcorn, pleaded guilty to fraud after admitting he faked insurance documents and the approval of a building inspector whilst carrying out a basement conversion in Didsbury.

This case first came to the attention of Manchester City Council in January 2017 after a complainant contacted Trading Standards over the quality of Routledge’s work.

The complainant had originally approached Routledge to carry out a basement conversion on their house in August 2016 after seeing him working at a nearby property.

They made it clear that any work was to be completed to building regulation standards, and that professional indemnity, public liability insurance, guarantees and guarantee protection insurance were provided. Routledge agreed to this.

Work was carried out until Christmas 2016 when it became clear that the standard of construction was falling far short of what had been agreed, but by this stage more than £30,000 had been spent by the complainant on the conversion.

During the sentencing hearing the Court heard that Routledge had “gone to ground” during this period to avoid repeated attempts by the complainant to contact him.

The complainant approached a reputable contractor to fix the work already carried out by Routledge, incurring an additional £36,000 to the total cost of the basement conversion.

This behaviour was followed by two further acts of fraud carried out in Cheshire, where he preyed on elderly and vulnerable residents in Northwich and Runcorn. This was taken into account alongside his actions in Manchester during sentencing.

Manchester’s Trading Standards carried out detailed investigations into the allegations made against Routledge. Evidence gathered ultimately proved that the documents provided by the defendant were fake, and the company Routledge claimed to have issued certificates relating to building regulations confirmed they had no relationship with the defendant.

Attempts were also made to track down the building inspector who allegedly signed these documents, but no such person was found to exist.

The Council was also able to draw on the valuable support of Cheshire West and Chester Council, and Halton Borough Council Trading Standards whose officers were able to help piece together the criminal acts Routledge had carried out after leaving Manchester.

The Council made multiple attempts to invite Routledge for interview, all of which went unanswered.

On Tuesday Routledge was jailed for three years and nine months. Half of that period must be spent in custody, with the remaining time on licence

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