Three builders who carried out ‘worthless’ work for huge sums in Wiltshire have been jailed.

Brothers Matty Rossiter, 18, and James Rossiter, 24, from Sambourne Park, Minety, pleaded guilty to participating in a fraudulent business and fraud by false representation on June 24 last year.

A third man, Dean Smith, 21 from Paices Hill, Aldermaston, pleaded guilty on July 25 last year to participating in a fraudulent business.

The charges were for unnecessary and overpriced work carried out at 18 properties, with customers aged between 44 and 90, defrauded out of approximately £45,000 - with many also having to pay out more to have the work put right.

The biggest losses were £9,000, £8,500 and £5,000.

The standard of the work carried out was described by one chartered surveyor engaged to assess the work as "abysmal", "carried out with no attendant skill or competence" and "probably without the use of appropriate hand tools".

Matty Rossiter was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, James Rossiter was sentenced to three years and four months in prison and Dean Smith was sentenced to three years in prison. They were sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on April 13.

Wiltshire Trading Standards also shared a video on Facebook of the trio carring out a 'bodge' to a roof.

During the investigation many more consumers were interviewed who had also been defrauded but did not want to provide a witness statement.

Some customers were cold called but many had engaged the men through Facebook and professional looking websites.

The three men traded under several business names - Southern Homecare, Chippenham Roofing, Skyline Roofing, Wiltshire Roofing, Yate Roofing, Tree Wise, RM Building & Landscapes and Enterprise Roofing.

The offences were committed in Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire and Bristol between October 2020 and March 2021.

Wiltshire Council worked with the National Trading Standards to prosecute the men.

Chair of National Trading Standards Lord Michael Bichard said: "These men were calculated in the way they targeted victims, whether through cold-calling and falsely claiming they'd spotted a problem, or misleading people looking for home improvement services.

"They pressured their victims, many of whom were vulnerable, into paying huge amounts upfront for work that afterwards was deemed to be worthless, or worse, had actually caused damage.

"I am grateful to everyone involved in bringing these criminals to justice."

If you believe you have been the victim of a rogue trader, call Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.