Cowboy builder tore my home apart and disappeared off the face of the earth with £14k

“Cowboy builder tore my home apart and disappeared off the face of the earth with £14k”

“The power imbalance is just so big” between builders and homeowners, says Sheri Ingram

A rogue builder ripped Sheri Ingram’s home apart and then “disappeared off the face of the earth” with £14,000.

In February, Lee Slocombe, from Swansea, was jailed for six years after defrauding nine victims of £400,000 — his latest conviction in a decade of offending.

In August, the UK government unveiled plans to offer stronger protection against “cowboy builders” through a database of trusted traders.

Ingram, from Cardiff, said she welcomed the idea, but wondered what would motivate tradespeople to join the voluntary scheme.

Another couple who were “scarred for life” by a rogue trader who left them £30,000 out of pocket said it would give homeowners more confidence.

“He (Slocombe) was recommended to us by a serving police officer who my ex knew,” Ingram said.

“So why on earth would we have not trusted him?”

Slocombe’s offending spanned 11 years, and while on bail he even used a false name to target nine people for work on their homes.

It started in 2015 after Ingram and her now ex-partner bought a house in Aberbeeg, Blaenau Gwent, which they intended to renovate and move into.

The then 21-year-old hired Slocombe to build an extension and turn the ground floor into open plan.

She said they were not building experts, and although it seemed as if plenty was happening, Slocombe kept discovering problems and asking for more money to fix them.

For the first six weeks, he was “very responsive”, Ingram said, before he then “disappeared off the face of the earth” with £14,000.

Over those six weeks, Slocombe “kept finding problems” and continued asking for more money to solve them.

Her ex-partner eventually got in touch with him, but he implied the money had all gone.

Slocombe said he was expecting compensation from an injury he had suffered on another building job, and would repay the cash and carry on with the work.

But that never happened.

The home was later repaired by Channel 5 programme Cowboy Builders, which helps families who have been exploited by rogue traders.

Lee Slocombe was made subject to a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from carrying out building, maintenance or gardening work in the UK for life

In February, Slocombe, then 33, of Delhi Street, Swansea, was jailed for six years after carrying out dangerous building work at properties in Cardiff, Bridgend and Swansea.

According to Cardiff council, the £400,000 fraud cost his nine victims more than £547,000 in total once the cost of fixing his dangerous work was included.

He had admitted taking part in a fraudulent business between March 2021 and May 2023, with one charge against him and one against his company, LSP Developments.

Slocombe was on Crown Court bail when the offences took place.

It was the third time he had received a prison sentence for offending dating back to 2015.

That year, he was jailed for 43 months for three fraud offences, and in 2023 he was sentenced to five years and five months after defrauding seven families of £150,000.

Cardiff Crown Court heard in February that Slocombe had used the name Lee Lewis to stop his previous convictions being found, and on two occasions brought a fake and unqualified gas engineer to properties, leaving them in a “potentially lethal state”.

, banning him from carrying out building, maintenance or gardening work in the UK for life, and disqualified from being a company director until 2031.

Ingram said the proposals were a “good step in the right direction” because “the power imbalance is just so big” between people renovating homes and builders.

“There needs to be better protections in place, there has to be,” she added.

“I would expect the government to take accountability if the project did go wrong if I used the database.

“I don’t think traders would sign up and the reality is they don’t need to.”

The UK government plans to introduce stronger protections for people renovating their homes against “cowboy builders” through a new database of trusted traders and a payment system with extra safeguards.

Tradespeople who join the scheme will have to show certain standards in customer service, transparency and dispute resolution.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said unscrupulous tradespeople “leave families with months of stress” as well as unfinished work.

He added that they gave their “decent, hardworking” rivals a bad name and hoped to put “the cowboys out of business”.

The UK government said more than a quarter of people who had home improvements done in the past 18 months had run into problems, including builders disappearing after upfront payments were made.

, suggesting customers lost more than £10bn in 2024 on home and garden maintenance services because of losses, inflated charges or unfair practices by traders.

Barry and Shelley Sawkins say the building work took “every penny” they had

Barry and Shelley Sawkins, from Flintshire, lost more than £30,000 to rogue builder Christian Williams

, who left their new extension unfinished, with water pouring into their home.

Williams, 54, is currently serving a two-year prison sentence after admitting theft and three counts of fraud by false representation involving four families.

At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing in June, Mold Crown Court heard that Williams, trading as Chris Williams Construction, had benefited by £163,051.70 from his offending, but his assets meant he could only repay £1.

The extension is still not finished three years after work began in 2023

The extension remains unfinished three years after work began in 2023, and Shelley said that makes it hard for the couple to love their home.

“We’re in a place now where we are stuck,” she added.

“It has scarred us for life really.”

They hope to move eventually to St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, to be nearer their daughter once the work is finished.

“I really do respect him [Andy Burnham]. I like his approach. He speaks from the ground up,” Shelley said.

“I think the government plans would help give people more confidence.”

Chief executive Brian Berry said: “The prime minister’s push to crack down on rogue builders is a great move for the industry.

“However, it is a real concern that this is just another voluntary programme without regulation behind it.”

Minister for the future of work Kate Dearden was asked about the scheme on BBC Breakfast

, external and said: “We want to act quickly and get support to people as soon as possible.

“Of course if it was compulsory, that would take a little bit more time for us to develop and to work to.

“However, we are going to be watching this really closely in terms of the uptake and the impact that it has in the sector.”