A HANDYMAN who ripped off elderly and vulnerable people by over-charging for shoddy gardening and building work has been jailed for 15 months.

The victims of Joseph Carter, aged 25, of High Street, Bromyard, included a schizophrenic, a man suffering from dementia and a couple in their 80s, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The father of two would cold-call at their homes, coercing them into paying high sums for “unnecessary and incompetent work”.

He followed one victim to his bank where he withdrew £900, said Nicholas Tucker, prosecuting for Herefordshire County Council’s Trading Standards department.

Carter pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and one of pursuing an aggressive commercial practice.

Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC told him his “confidence frauds” involved a degree of planning, and he will consider passing an anti-social behaviour order on Carter.

Carter called at the schizophrenic’s home in Hereford in October 2010, telling him he needed a dangerous tree felling at a cost of £60-85, said Mr Tucker.

He returned to fell more trees and increased the bill to £500. The victim eventually parted with £1,540.

A retired woman engaged Carter to repair her leaking 13th century home in Ludlow. She complained about the £630 bill but he brushed aside her protests.

An attempt to replace lead was “worse than useless”, he said. Filler failed to harden and the wrong type of plaster was applied to a damp wall.

Carter also approached a couple, claiming he ran a firm called JC Roofing and offering to solve a guttering problem. But the work was of poor quality and the leaks continued.

The offences occurred between September 2010 and January 2011 and the total cost of the scam was £2,220.

He served a 10-week jail term after he charged a dementia victim in Wales £500 to cut a hedge and an elderly woman £100 for gardening work that was never done.

John Dyer, defending, said Carter carried out the offences when he was short of cash and his partner was pregnant.