(Image: City of York Council)
A man has been jailed after laundering more than £34,000 on behalf of rogue builders.
It is the latest success of a York-based anti-fraud squad that last week brought to justice 22 members of an organised crime group of cowboy builders.
Michael Everton, 31, of Nightingale Croft in Rotherham, was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison at Sheffield Crown Court after pleading guilty to five counts of money laundering.
His convictions are connected to a wider investigation by a York-based regional trading standards squad into a criminal network involved in fraudulent property repairs across the North East, Yorkshire, and North Lincolnshire.
Between 2022 and 2024, Everton received payments totalling £34,688 from five victims in Sheffield for roofing and property work found to be unnecessary, incomplete, poorly performed and grossly overcharged.
In one case, a woman in her 70s from Sheffield was cold called and told repairs were needed to the front wall of her home. Despite asking, she was not given a price before the work was carried out.
She later paid £1,925 to Everton. An independent surveyor estimated the work should only have cost around £110 plus VAT.
Lord Michael Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, said: "These were appalling crimes which exploited older people in their own homes, taking thousands of pounds for unnecessary, poor-quality or grossly overpriced work.
"Money laundering facilitates crimes like these by allowing criminals to move and benefit from money taken from their victims."
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The investigation was led by the National Trading Standards Yorkshire and Humber Regional Investigation Team, hosted by City of York Council.
Cllr Jenny Kent from City of York Council said: "Aiding criminals to profit from and hide their crimes is often as bad as committing the offence yourself, as this sentence shows.
"Thanks are due to our investigators for their perseverance in securing justice, and, I hope, some kind of comfort for those defrauded."
Last week, 22 members of the wider criminal group were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court for their roles in a £1 million roofing fraud.