A Cornish cowboy builder ripped off customers and falsely claimed that his wife had died when an angry client asked him to fix the botched job.

Leonard Richards also told another elderly victim of his appalling work that his brother in law had died on a flight to America.

A judge jailed the 24 year old saying: "You hadn't got a clue what you were doing."

Recorder Simon Levene said Richards was paid £45,000 in total from three victims and it cost them another £45,000 to put right his bodged work over his 14 month long frauds between January 2022 and March 2023.

Truro Crown Court heard that Richards replied to his victims who made inquiries through an online trading platform.

One couple wanted work done on their bathroom at their holiday let cottages in Cornwall but Richards left them in a 'devastating' state with unsafe rooms and the electrics were a 'death trap'.

The owners said Richards - who was using the ill-gotten gains on gambling and cocaine - 'wrecked' both properties, left them looking like a building site from hell and led to fall outs with angry neighbours.

Another couple paid him to remove moss and clear gutters from their home in Cornwall - but he claimed the roof needed new slates.

But he claimed the joists were rotten and then smashed a hole in the roof - and a torrential downpour ruined other rooms in the house.

Richards, of Whitemoor, near St Austell, failed to return to the property and told the customers his wife had died after childbirth complications - but Cornwall Council Trading Standards officers found this was a lie.

His third victim was an 81 year old woman who wanted basic fascias fitted at her home - but Richards claimed her chimney was at risk of falling down.

High winds caused tiles to fly off her roof after his botched work and he would not return to fix it saying his brother in law had died on a flight to the USA.

The pensioner said he had treated her in a 'callous and calculating way with a smile on his face'.

One loser had to raid their pension pot to pay for remedial work to their damaged home.

Edward Bailey, defending, said his work had been 'utterly shoddy' and he was not capable of qualified to do the work.

The judge said there was no prospect of the losers getting a penny back from jobless Richards.

Father of three Richards admitted fraud by a sole trader and was jailed for 16 months. No compensation order was made.