Overview
- Patrick Coyle, 57, pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud by false representation at Preston Crown Court and was jailed for 28 months on October 31.
- He defrauded six homeowners in Bispham, Lytham, Blackpool, Oldham and North Wales, causing total losses of about £25,000.
- Coyle posed as a builder, took upfront payments for repairs, and then abandoned the jobs or failed to start them.
- Victim statements described lasting anxiety and loss of trust, including one homeowner quoted £9,000 for a wall who asked if the bricks were "pure gold".
- Recorder Fiona Clancy called the offending "calculated and shameful", and police said he targeted mainly elderly or vulnerable people, including a woman whose husband was dying.