THREE cowboy roofers who cheated an 80-year-old woman out of £1,250 have been jailed for 15 years.
Conmen John Jackson, 43, brother Christopher, 39, and Martin Bufton, 41, preyed on Cheshire's elderly and intimidated them into paying for unnecessary and shoddy work, Knutsford Crown Court heard.
On several occasions they even drove their victims to the bank or building society to withdraw the cash.
David Potter, prosecuting, told how an 80-year-old Wilmslow widow was conned.
She handed over £450 when the men knocked on her door claiming her ridge tiles needed fixing.
The next morning they returned and said she owed them more money.
She was taken to her building society in their van so she could withdraw £800 for them.
Concerned neighbours told police who were already on the case and recording the gang's operation.
An 82-year-old woman, of Knutsford, was also targeted.
She was bullied by three men into paying £150 for work she didn't think was justified.
Numerous other elderly victims fell prey to the criminal trio.
John and Christopher Jackson, of Stamford Road, Chester, admitted four counts of obtaining property by deception and Bufton, of Treborth Road, Chester, admitted three counts of deception.
Christopher Jackson was jailed for nine years.
It included a five-year sentence for an unconnected offence of conspiracy to deal in drugs, two years for deception and two years for affray.
John Jackson was jailed for four years and Bufton received two years' custody.
Judge Geoffrey Kilfoil said the men had set out with the barest of tools and materials to descend on unsuspecting streets in Cheshire.
He said they had frightened and bemused householders, often elderly widows.
"Often, before anyone knew, you were on the roof and had the tiles off," he said.
"You got the money and were off but in this case the police were on to you.
"It is a miserable and cowardly offence."
