Window fitter who conned elderly couple out of £4,500 given community order

Stuart Richard Wilson, 46, was recommended to the woman by her hairdresser and was engaged to supply and fit swing and slide patio doors at her home in Davison Close, Wynyard, near Middlesbrough.

Michele Stowe, prosecuting,on behalf of Stockton Council at Middlesbrough Magistrates’ Court, said the complainant had worked and saved for a long time for the work required. But after taking the money, Wilson failed to carry out the job.

The solicitor said: “He (Wilson) knew at the time he got the money he had financial problems and quite clearly had no intention of ordering the doors.”

The court heard how Wilson was now working for the company Safestyle UK and earning “quite a substantial amount of money”.

The defendant pleaded guilty last month to engaging in a commercial practice which involved misleading the householders and providing false information between August 7 2020 and February 23 2021.

David Dedman, mitigating, said the 46-year-old, of Paddock Green, Wynyard, was of previous good character and also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

He said Wilson had been self-employed at the time of the offence and wanted to pay the money he had taken under false pretences back.

Mr Dedman said: “He got himself into financial difficulty and he wanted to do this to get the money to pay a debt. He was robbing Peter to pay Paul. Unfortunately this family were at the end of a domino effect of financial difficulties.”

Chair of the magistrates bench, Michelle Matthews suggested Wilson had targeted the complainants.

She also described how, according to a probation report prepared on him, he had “minimised” what he had done and his actions.

Wilson was given a 12 month community order with the full amount of compensation – £4,500 being awarded, covering what he took.

He was also ordered to pay a further £500 to the female victim – whose husband had subsequently passed away – for her distress and court costs of £1,682, as well as a £95 victim surcharge.

Magistrates agreed a repayment reschedule proposed by the window fitter which will see him pay £600 a month towards the debt to be cleared.