A fraudster from Taunton who tried to ‘bully’ an 81-year-old carer into paying thousands of pounds for home repairs she didn’t need has been handed a suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay £11,700 in compensation.
Leeroy Packman, 31, of Odette Avenue, Taunton, pleaded guilty to fraud at Plymouth Magistrates Court on Friday 26 June, following a prosecution by Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service.
He was given a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and told to pay the compensation within two months.
The court heard that between 9 December and 31 December 2024, Packman cold-called at the home of an 81-year-old Plymouth woman and told her he had come ‘to check the coating’ that had been applied to her house.
After being allowed in, he told her there were cracks that needed repairing and quoted £4,850 for the work, asking for a £3,000 deposit.
He then said the cracks may have been caused by a leak in the roof and, after showing her photographs, quoted a further £15,300 for roof repairs.
Although she initially declined, the court heard Packman ‘was pushy’ and told her that if she died ‘her children would have the hassle of sorting it out’.
Because she wanted the problem to go away so she could return to caring for her husband, she agreed and paid a further £8,750.
But the next day, after a sleepless night, she turned scaffolders away when they arrived.
She then received a phone call from Packman, during which she told him she wanted to cancel the contract.
The court heard that he then tried to ‘bully’ her into continuing, but she refused and sent cancellation notices to the company address and by email. The letter was returned.
When Packman contacted her again several days later, she asked him to produce invoices. He claimed they were with the office in London, which he said was closed for Christmas.
Trading Standards officers found that the company named on the paperwork had ceased trading.
Packman spent the money he received over the next week — just £79 on materials, with the rest drawn out in cash and through a payment which appeared to be for a van.
The court was told that Packman falsely claimed he was working for a company, used false paperwork to support that pretence, had the money paid into his own bank account and then used the money for his own purposes.
The victim was left £11,700 out of pocket and the experience undermined her confidence and left her fearful of opening the door to anyone.
The court heard that Packman ‘deliberately’ targeted elderly, vulnerable women.
In mitigation, his counsel said that following sepsis in 2023 he began using drugs and was sofa surfing at the time of the offences.
But he was now sober, remorseful and understood the impact of his offending.
Packman was also sentenced for two other fraud offences prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service, which were described as similar in nature and also involved elderly women.
For one of those offences he received a further six-month prison sentence, suspended for the same period, to run consecutively.
There was no separate penalty for the other offence.
Magistrates said the sentences would have been nine months each but were reduced to six months each because of his early guilty plea.
Dolores Riordan, Head of Business and Rural Services at Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service, said: “This was a callous fraud which targeted an elderly and vulnerable victim in her own home.
“Packman used pressure and false claims to persuade his victim to hand over a substantial amount of money, then continued the pretence when she tried to cancel the work.
“The financial loss was serious, but so too was the impact on the victim’s confidence and sense of safety in her own home.
“Rogue traders who target older or vulnerable people cause real harm, and this case should serve as a warning that Trading Standards will take action where people are misled, pressured or defrauded.”
Packman was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.