Couple conned out of £87,000 by rogue builder who left house a 'complete bomb site'

Video report by ITV News Meridian's Juliette Fletcher

A rogue trader from Oxfordshire who conned a couple out of thousands has been jailed.

Lorna and Marcus Spurgeon from Abingdon were told the renovation of their downstairs would take 18 weeks to complete.

Ten months later, builder Nathan Kingsbury still hadn't completed the work and the house was in a terrible state.

Marcus said: "There was rubble all up through the front of the house, the roof and the walls weren't weather tight.

Above the lights there was tarpaulin flapping around in the night. It wasn't sealed or secure...it was a complete bomb site."

Lorna said: "It was unsafe and dangerous to live in. It was cold and dusty and basically we had upstairs to live in."

The couple had sought recommendations and agreed to pay builder Nathan Kingsbury from Marcham £87,000 for the job.  They had agreed a contract and staged payments, weighted towards completion of the job. They's also kept meticulous records.

However the work wasn't completed, the money was gone, and some suppliers hadn't been paid.

They were the victims of a fraudster.

There were other victims too and Kingsbury was jailed for fraud for four years.

Marcus and Lorna used their remaining savings to repair the damage. 

Marcus said: "I think what particularly stings is having made provisions for the children which...it still gets me now.

"So any financial money that we'd put aside for them - all of their savings were cleared out, pensions, or for stuff after the build that might have been a luxury, it'd all gone". 

New, reliable builders took over the job and now three years on, the work is finally nearing completion.