Cowboy builders made chimney repair a £300,000 ordeal... and cost this desperate man his life
A RETIRED computer analyst killed himself because he feared builders were conning him out of hundreds of thousands of pounds, an inquest heard.
Colin Juffs, 65, had asked them to re-point his chimney – but the builders claimed to need to carry out more and more work until he was left with a £297,000 bill.
Police opened a fraud investigation after Mr Juffs killed himself, leaving a suicide note that read: ‘I really could not see the job getting finished in my lifetime and therefore I have taken the selfish way out.’
Mr Juffs’ sister Paula found his body after going to his house in North Finchley, North London, from her home in York.
Miss Juffs, who became concerned when she went several days without hearing from her brother, found a table pushed towards the door with his passport and identity documents, a pile of papers relating to his estate and funeral costs, which he had already paid, and the suicide note.
In the note, Mr Juffs, who estimated that his house was worth £450,000, said: ‘I have been conned by my builder in the simplest of scams. Starting with a simple job, in this case a new chimney for a reasonable price, then escalating in stages until virtually the whole house needs rebuilding.
‘Once you have no roof and the rain starts pouring in, you don’t have many options. They are very clever of course: We can’t rebuild the wall without underpinning it; we can’t replace the rafters until the wall is built; we can’t put the roof on until we’ve replaced the rafters; we can’t rebuild the chimney until the roof is tiled.’
But he said he ‘finally snapped’ when the £172,000 job had another £125,000 added after he arranged to re-mortgage the house to pay for the work, North London Coroner’s Court heard.
Mr Juffs had last been seen by a neighbour on July 20 last year – seven days before his sister found him dead. She called paramedics, but they could not determine the time of death.
Senior Coroner Andrew Walker recorded a verdict of suicide.
Mr Juffs lived in the house for more than 30 years and had long since paid off his mortgage.
Speaking after the inquest, Miss Juffs said: ‘We were so close. I knew in my heart something was wrong so we came down. My brother was an intelligent and very proud man. He could not have faced his friends in the knowledge that he had been the victim of a scam.
‘If he could be scammed like that, then anyone could be. He had been thinking of moving house and so wanted to get the chimney re-pointed. But within just a couple of months the cost of the building work had escalated to almost £300,000.
‘My brother clearly believed he had been scammed. We believe the builders were conmen using the name of a real building firm. My brother had found them on the internet.’
Scotland Yard confirmed a fraud investigation was ongoing. A spokesman said: ‘No arrests have been made, but investigations are continuing.’
For confidential advice call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www. samaritans.org
‘I’ve taken the selfish way out’