Rogue trader builders jailed after defrauding pensioners out of life savings

Two rogue builders who conned an elderly couple out of more than £33,000 have been jailed for a scheme a judge described as “cruel, cynical and persistent”.

Dave McEvoy, 51, from Splott, Cardiff, and Joseph Ellis, 21, from Basildon, Essex, repeatedly targeted the couple’s home in Ystalyfera, Neath Port Talbot, after offering to carry out basic roof cleaning work for an 83-year-old man in July 2024.

The pair initially quoted £1,000 for the job. But after gaining the victims’ trust, they returned on multiple occasions claiming to have found new “faults” that required urgent repair. Each visit came with fresh demands for money.

Over the course of just one month, the men removed half of the bungalow’s roof – but never replaced it – while pressuring the victims to hand over ever-increasing sums. At one stage, they even encouraged the couple to remortgage their home to release equity, in a bid to extract more cash.

A later inspection by trading standards and independent experts revealed that the genuine cost of the work required should have been no more than £700–£800.

Both men pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and were sentenced this week to two years and three months in prison.

Detective Constable Rachel Thomas, who led the investigation, condemned the pair’s behaviour as “despicable”.

She said: “Dave McEvoy and Joseph Ellis are the sort of criminals for whom there is no low to which they will not stoop.

“To target an elderly and vulnerable couple not just once, but time and time again until they had been fully relieved of their life savings, shows that these two men have a complete lack of honour and respect.

“As long as they were making more money, they didn’t care one bit about the damage they were doing to the victims’ lives.”