Multiple jail sentences have been handed out to fraudsters who conned hundreds of thousands of pounds from elderly people, including an 82-year-old man in Kenilworth.

The pensioner was conned out of £74,000 alongside 10 other householders who were scammed.

They were all visited by cold callers who demanded money and were paid for roofing repairs that were either not carried out or for work that was substandard.

The case, which also involved additional fraudsters, took place between 1 August 2021 and 1 July 2023, with the total value of the fraud adding up to around £880,000.

The victim who lost the most money - a 67-year-old Nottingham man - was deprived of £376,284 of his life savings after he was visited on numerous occasions between August 2021 and March 2022.

This was money he had saved up for 30 years as a pension pot – entirely derailing his retirement plan.

Other vulnerable victims they conned out of money included a 97-year-old woman from Coventry who has since died (defrauded of £186,000), an 82-year-old man from Kenilworth, Warwickshire (lost £74,000) and an 80-year-man from Coventry who has since died (lost £37,000).

The exploitation followed the same pattern, with victims initially being told they needed work doing to their roofs and then being demanded to pay extortionate amounts for unnecessary or substandard work.

Other layers to the large-scale fraud included victims being told they needed to pay for additional work on their properties, a number of whom were also told they had to pay more because VAT hadn't been charged.

Some were conned into paying out even more, after the fraudsters told them they would need to do so in order to be entitled for refunds.

Some victims were also threatened that previous roofing work would be removed if further payments weren't made.

A sophisticated scheme was in place to launder the criminal proceeds.

This included offenders giving their victims different names to make cheques payable to in a bid to disguise what was happening. After the money went into these accounts it was then paid to the fraudsters.

A detailed investigation was carried out which led to Charlie Lee's arrest, in Coventry on 18 November 2022, and James Cunningham's subsequent arrest, in Essex on 10 January 2023.

They were duly charged with offences and both men appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Monday 15 June.

Charlie Lee, formerly of Mile Tree Lane, Coventry, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, between 1 August 2021 and 31 May 2023.

Cunningham, of Cawley Lane, Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, between 1 August 2021 and 31 May 2023.

He also pleaded guilty to six money laundering offences during the conspiracy period – these offences included spending cash from illegal activity on high-value vehicles.

Another offender who had a lead role in the wider conspiracy was 28-year-old Ben Lee, the son of Charlie Lee, with evidence directly linking him to the case.

Ben Lee, formerly of Mile Tree Lane, Coventry, was also identified by a number of the fraud victims.

Following Ben Lee's arrest he was then charged and pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud by false representation, between 1 August 2021 and 1 July 2023.

He also pleaded guilty to concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property, between 10 February 2022 and 17 December 2022.

Other defendants in the case, who also appeared at the same court for sentencing on Monday 15 June, assisted by laundering proceeds of the crime.

They were 56-year-old Stephen O'Rourke, of Meryhurst Road, Sandwell, 46-year-old Michelle Fox, of Church Close, Lutterworth, Leicestershire and Ben Lee's younger brother, 23-year-old Cole Lee, of Mile Tree Lane, Coventry.

Stephen O'Rourke's name was given to victims to make cheques payable to – amounting to more than £143,000 in total which was paid into his bank accounts.

O'Rourke knowingly converted proceeds of crime - money defrauded from one of the victims - by purchasing seven Rolex watches. These were later seized by police during a raid.

He pleaded guilty to converting criminal property by means of transferring money from victims into a bank account and buying the watches.

Fox, who was arrested in Nottingham on 21 December 2022, went on to plead guilty to concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property, between 1 August 2021 and 23 November 2022.

She converted property, namely £16,413 in cash, by means of depositing cash into her bank accounts knowing or suspecting it to represent, in whole or part, the proceeds of criminal conduct.

Cole Lee travelled to Nottingham with his brother as the pair visited victims and demanded payment for work.

He pleaded guilty acquiring criminal property, namely £37,450 from one of the fraud victims.

The offenders were sentenced to:

• Ben Lee – jailed for four years and 11 months
• Charlie Lee – jailed for three years and 10 months
• James Cunningham – given a sentence of five years and 10 months in prison but was told he was eligible for immediate release on licence, until the end of this period, due to time already served
• Stephen O'Rourke – 21-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, 200 hours' unpaid work
• Michelle Fox – eight month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, 150 hours' unpaid work
• Cole Lee – 12-month community order, 40 hours' unpaid work