A rogue gardener who called on people to 'take a leap of faith' and assured people he had never let anyone down, scammed customers out of more than £39,000.

The trader - who has not been named by Warwickshire Police - has been handed a suspended jail sentence after being charged with 13 counts of fraud by false representation.

Starting in 2019, the self-employed gardener from Long Compton had been employed by residents, mostly in the Banbury area.

In jobs ranging from basic gardening to building walls, creating an outdoor model railway and a pond, he would ask for large sums of money up front.

In most of the 13 cases against him, he would then turn up and complete a small amount of the work before halting and coming up with an array of excuses as to why the job had been delayed.

Sometimes, he would offer customers sheds, plants or other materials at low prices, claiming he was getting special deals with suppliers.

The customer would then be pressured to transfer money very quickly to 'secure' the deal.

Ultimately, goods or services would not be delivered and, after responding to customers with an array of excuses, he would eventually go silent and ignore further attempts at communication.

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Customers began reporting him to the force.

In police interviews the gardener's excuses continued, with him offering an array of explanations for not giving refunds or never completing work – including snow, his van breaking down and cutting his hand using secateurs.

When he was confronted with evidence that he had defrauded customers out of tens of thousands of pounds he could not offer any proof of having purchased any materials or plants that he had taken money from customers for.

Following an extensive investigation by Detective Constable Alison Roberts, the gardener was charged with 13 counts of fraud by false representation.

And at Warwick Crown Court on Wednesday, 15 July, he was sentenced to 36 months in prison (suspended for 30 months) 200 hours unpaid work 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

DC Roberts said: "Rogue traders like this cause significant distress to their customers, as well as embarrassment to the community of hard-working, honest tradespeople across our county.

"I want to thank each one of the residents who reported this individual's behaviour and helped with the information we needed to see him held to account."