Two "callous" conmen who posed as builders to defraud a vulnerable man have been jailed for a combined total of nearly four years.

Jimmy Connors, 21, of Park Lane, Southam and his cousin Francis Ward, 19, of By-Pass Road, Queensferry, Deeside conned the victim out of £13,500.

A transaction for more than £7,000 was blocked also blocked after a member of the victim's family was alerted to the scam.

Appearing at Warwick Crown Court last week, Connors was jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty to fraud and Ward for 27 months after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud.

The victim – a man in his 50's who had previously suffered a brain injury – was targeted in September 2020.

Speaking afterwards, Detective Constable Emma Pritchard said: "The victim was vulnerable and I have no doubt this would have been obvious to Ward and Connors. This callous pair preyed on vulnerable people and conned them out of thousands of pounds.

"Their actions were appalling and the fully deserved a prison sentence."

Warwickshire Police said Ward went to the victim's house in the Warwick area and told him there was a loose brick on his roof and that he could repair it for £10. The victim agreed to the work and Ward came back a few days later.

After spending about half-an-hour on the roof Ward told the victim there was a lot more damage than expected and the bricks around the chimney were collapsing. He said this would cost £3,000 to repair.

The victim withdrew the cash and handed it over.

A few days later Ward returned with Connors and after a few hours told the victim that the main beam in the roof was damaged and needed to be repaired and a cheque for £7,200 was handed over.

Ward and Connors returned the following day and asked if they could access the loft. After half-an-hour Ward told the victim that a second beam needed work and quoted £4,000. The victim said he could not afford this and Ward and Connors left agreeing to return a few days later to carry out the work.

In the meantime, the partner of the victim's sister went to the house and spotted there was something wrong with the roof. After becoming concerned they arranged for the cheque to be blocked and contacted police.

When Ward and Connors returned on 5 October they were arrested.

A search of their vehicle uncovered a large number of invoices relating to other work.

One of these invoices helped link Ward to a fraud in Coventry where a woman was conned out of £3,000 after he told her that her rood required work. Ward caused £8,500 worth of damage to the roof which the victim had to get repaired.

Analysis of Ward's phone found a WhatsApp conversation discussing how to befriend and defraud people along with steps to take to avoid being detected.

A search of Connors' phone uncovered internet searches looking for information on repairing chimneys.

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