Builder accused of scamming customers out of £60,000

COURT: Sheriff hears claims of shoddy and unfinished work in fraud charges

A builder who operates across Tayside is to stand trial accused of operating scams worth more than £60,000.

Allegations have been made by a series of customers who claim Norman Hughes carried out shoddy work and failed to complete all of the work he promised.

Hughes is alleged to have left customers in Dundee, Blairgowrie, Arbroath and Longforgan out of pocket.

The charges he faces state he carried out work in a “grossly negligent and unworkmanlike manner”.

Prosecutors say he promised to carry out extensive work on numerous properties and “induced” customers to hand over large sums of cash.

They did so “in the knowledge that said work had not been completed at all or had been completed in a grossly negligent manner”, according to the charges.

In one instance it is alleged that between October 1 2014 and January 31 2015 he promised a Dundee woman he would fit a kitchen and carry out work including damp repairs, chimney repairs and installing new front and back doors.

He is said to have obtained £24,000 from the woman but “failed to complete all of the work he pretended he would”.

Further charges allege he defrauded a Blairgowrie family out of £12,000 and a guest-house owner out of £4,370.

Prosecutors allege another scam saw an Arbroath resident lose a total of £5,000 and a Longforgan family were cheated out of £8,800.

A Dundee man is also said to have given Hughes £7,000 for unsatisfactory work.

Hughes, 35, of Abbey Road, Scone, pleaded not guilty on indictment to a total of six charges of fraud during a pretrial hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael set a further pre-trial hearing for a date in November.