Lancashire County Council has welcomed a court decision to sentence a conman to nearly five years in prison after he scammed vulnerable residents out of more than £500,000.

Joseph Anthony Oliver, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of participating in a fraudulent business under the Companies Act 2006, at Caernarfon Crown Court in May.

His prosecution followed an investigation by Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards, Isle of Anglesey Trading Standards and Trading Standards Wales Regional Investigation Team, funded by National Trading Standards.

The investigations found that Mr Oliver would convince his victims that their properties required unnecessary maintenance work. This was often either not carried out or carried out poorly in a manner that damaged the property.

The court heard that Mr Oliver had conned a total of 39 victims aged between 53 and 93 years old. Individual victims were defrauded of between £60 and £120,000, with a total fraud value calculated in excess of £500,000.

The judge said that Mr Oliver ‘rinsed his elderly and vulnerable victims for as much as possible’ with ‘appalling dishonesty and exploitation.’

Cllr Michael Green, cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing at Lancashire County Council said: ‘Once again our Trading Standards team, this time working with national colleagues, have sought justice for vulnerable Lancashire residents and shown the strong message that crime doesn’t pay.

‘This case is a particularly disgusting example of how unscrupulous individuals can manipulate vulnerable residents. The impact upon the victims have been harrowing. They and their families can now take some comfort that this criminal has been brought to justice.’