A previously convicted bogus workman returned to his criminal ways to defraud an elderly couple out of hundreds of pounds by claiming to carry out maintenance on their Kirkcaldy home.
James Peacock turned to crime after his scaffolding business failed following a stroke in 2018.
He was previously jailed in 2020 for scamming pensioners out of thousands of pounds for roofing repairs he failed to carry out.
But the unrepentant 42-year-old conned a couple, falsely claiming to have carried out work and demanding increasing sums of money for five months last year.
He asked a sheriff to let him pay compensation to his latest victims, aged 86 and 79, but the offer was branded “completely unrealistic”.
Couple conned
Fiscal depute Alistair McDermid told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court the couple had lived in their bungalow for more than 30 years.
He said: “The complainers previously had their gutters cleaned by a window cleaner but he retired in 2021.
“In June 2022, they were leaving the locus to go to a family lunch.
“A group of males, including the accused, approached them and offered to clean the gutters and remove a birds nest.
“They quoted £200 and the complainers accepted the price.
“In June they were at their home when the accused approached and asked for the money.
“One of the complainers went to the cash machine to withdraw it as they did not keep cash in the house.
“The birds nest had been removed as this could be visibly seen but it was unclear if the gutters had been cleaned.
“The accused attended the locus on a number of occasions during this time.
“He quoted between £600 and £1000 to replace anti-bird spikes on the roof and remove moss.
“They agreed to have this carried out.
“The accused later stated that VAT had to be added, which was £200.”
Suspicions aroused among family
By November, the couple’s family was concerned they were being scammed and installed a doorbell camera at their property, which captured Peacock arriving at the house.
It was clear none of the agreed work had been carried out despite the couple having paid.
Peacock, formerly of Cardenden, admitted defrauding the couple of £1270 between June 19 and November 20 2022.
Solicitor David Cranston, defending, said his client had intended doing the work.
He said Peacock had suffered a “significant fall from grace” after his scaffolding company collapsed when he suffered a stroke.
“He left school when he was 16 and found employment in the scaffolding firm and remained in this for 14 years before opening his own company.
“At its pinnacle in 2016/17, he employed 12 men and had four vans on the road.
“He was earning around £150,000 a year so business was very good.
“All that came to grinding halt in 2018 when he suffered a stroke.
“Almost instantly, he lost his business.
“Although he had men working for him, he ran the business himself.
“His employees saw the writing was on the wall and all left.
“He went to earning next-to-nothing in the space of a few months.
“During that time, he became involved in offending.
“He said his initial intention was to do the work on the property.
“The number of withdrawals (by the couple) totalled £1670, but it’s accepted some work was done for them.”
He said Peacock had broken his neck falling from a prison bed while on remand but was keen to compensate the couple and was confident he could do so if freed.
However Sheriff Alison Mackay said that was “completely unrealistic”
She said: “Frankly, your conduct was despicable and I’m not convinced the time you have spent in custody is sufficient.”
She sentenced him to 16 months in prison, backdated to January.
Previous crimes
In late 2020, Peacock was jailed for 17 months for lying he would carry out roofing repairs and then threatening his elderly victims until they paid up.
One victim was an 81-year-old man in Rosyth whose wife had recently died.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard he walked into his victim’s home uninvited, shouting and demanding money.
The distressed man was found sobbing in his home and taken to hospital to recover from his ordeal.
Another victim was a 72-year-old man living alone and undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, conned out of £2300.
He gained £5000 from a Dunfermline woman by pretending he would carry out roofing repairs and another £2000 from a man in the city.
Others in Dunfermline and Rosyth were among the eight pensioners between the ages of 65 and 82 conned out of more than £19,000 in total.
The court heard during his offending between February 2019 to September 2020, Peacock gave false names to the “customers” and used the money to feed his cocaine habit.
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