Lawn and order: Cheating landscape gardener jailed after charging a frail pensioner £42,000 for a piece of Astroturf

A landscape gardener was handed a jail sentence after charging a frail pensioner a staggering £42,000 for a piece of Astroturf.

Police investigating Michael Gorman found that he had attempted to pocket more than £40,000 in profit from the fake grass.

Gorman gained the trust of elderly Roy Wilcox over several months and persuaded him to have gardening tasks done at his home for which the landscaper would then overcharge by up to tens of thousands of pounds.

The 47-year-old charged his elderly client an eye-watering £42,000 for the installation of artificial grass in his garden - when the work was in fact worth less than £2,000.

A judge heard that Gorman's defrauding of the pensioner took place over several months between November 2021 and April 2022 after Mr Wilcox had initially approached the defendant in November 2021.

Prosecutor Amber Athill told the judge that Gorman, of Star Hill, Hook, Hampshire, charged Mr Wilcox £12,500 for the concrete paving of his garden in Caversham, near Reading.

An expert later calculated Gorman's work was in fact worth £4,068 - meaning he had overcharged the pensioner by over £8,000.

On April 8, 2022, Mr Wilcox wrote the defendant a cheque for £500 which was the deposit for the installation of artificial grass.

The judge heard that Gorman had written in his notebook a quote for this job which amounted to £2,300 - but this quote was never communicated to Mr Wilcox.

Gorman installed the artificial grass in Mr Wilcox's garden on April 19, 2022 - and told the elderly man he was owed £42,000 for his work.

Ms Athill, prosecuting on behalf of Reading Borough Council, said: 'Although Mr Wilcox thought the price was steep, he trusted the defendant and wrote out a cheque for the full amount.'

An expert later calculated the installation of the artificial grass was only worth £1,880.70 - meaning Gorman had knowingly overcharged the elderly pensioner by some £40,000.

Gorman never gave the victim any warning of what the price would be and never provided a receipt.

Mr Wilcox, who has since passed away, provided a statement which was read out in court today/yesterday (Fri).

He said: 'I wanted it done and thought I was dealing with a reputable builder

'I trusted he would give me a fair price as I did not know the going rate for the work.

'I did not know or have any way to check whether the cost was reasonable or not, so I trusted him and paid it.'

The intended loss reached over £49,000 whilst the actual loss to the victim was £8,932 after Mr Wilcox's bank intervened and stopped the payment.

Francesca Kolar, defence counsel for Gorman, said: 'The absolute tragedy in this case... is that Mr Gorman is himself vulnerable and he has taken advantage of a more vulnerable person for financial gain. That is the absolute tragedy in this case.

'Mr Gorman was not running a successful landscaping business where he decided to take serious advantage over Mr Wilcox.

'Mr Gorman has had a very difficult life - a difficult childhood suffering from severe epilepsy.'

Judge Kirsty Real said: 'He wanted the work done and there is no evidence of him being pressured into having work done.

'What is un-arguable is the deliberate targeting of a vulnerable victim. It is obvious that he was elderly and there must have been some planning.

'This offending is however so serious that only custody can be justified.'

Judge Real sentenced Gorman to 32 months in prison on the lead count of fraud. For two other counts of fraud, Gorman received nine-month and 24-month prison sentences, to run concurrently.

Two charges relating to Gorman's request for £900 to remove some small trees and £1,400 for a new fence, was ordered to lay on file.