Four men jailed for fraud against elderly

07/11/2011

Four members of one family have been jailed for defrauding elderly and vulnerable people out of thousands of pounds.

They offered to carry out work on the properties of the victims, charged extortionate amounts of money and either carried out shoddy work and in some cases caused damage to the victims' properties and then carried out poor repairs for an exorbitant charge.

In one case a pensioner was made to hand over £31,000 for work the Tomneys claimed that they had done at her Blackpool home. In another, the group poured milk onto a Stockport victim's driveway, claiming it was sealant, and forced him to pay £800.

Francis Tomney Jnr, Francis Tomney Snr, and Thomas Tomney targeted addresses across Lancashire, Manchester and Hertfordshire.

Operation Flycatcher II was launched in 2009 involving police, CPS, Trading Standards and Her Majestys Revenue and Customs.  The operation led to the men pleading guilty to a number of offences at an earlier hearing at Preston Crown Court. 
Francis Tomney Jnr was jailed for five years for conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and cheating the public revenue. His father Francis Tomney Snr was jailed for five and a half years for conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and two charges of cheating the public revenue and handling stolen passports.  Thomas Tomney was jailed for four and a half years for conspiracy to commit fraud by misrepresentation and Brian Tomney was jailed for 12 months for cheating the public revenue and fraud following his involvement at a job undertaken by the Tomneys in Stockport.

Speaking after the sentencing  John Dilworth, Head of the North West Area Complex Case Unit said: "This was not just a case of shoddy workmanship or opportunistic crimes, this was systematic fraud over a considerable period of time and across a wide area.   These defendants deliberately targeted people who they thought it would be easier to defraud.  They were superficially charming with victims but in reality treated them with contempt and in some cases conned retired people out of their life savings. They've shown no remorse throughout the prosecution.

"People can sometimes be embarrassed about being the victim of a doorstep fraud like this and can be reluctant to come forward.  They have no reason to be.  In this case because the victims reported the offences and were prepared to give evidence, we were able to build such a strong case against these men that they were left with no choice but to plead guilty."

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