Bogus builders in £6k con told to repay just £1

TWO crooks who posed as builders to cheat a homeowner out of £6,000 have been ordered to repay just £1 each.

David Vincent, 51, and his 27-year-old son, also called David, ripped off Robert Etheridge, 60, by convincing him he needed urgent work on his house.

They conned him into believing his loft was infested with rodents and maggots. They even showed him three dead rats and tried extort a further £7,000.

The conmen, of Orpington, south-east London, were jailed for fraud at Maidstone Crown Court last year. They returned yesterday for confiscation proceedings. When the court heard they had no assets, they were ordered to repay the nominal £1 sum. The judge gave them a week to forfeit the cash or serve a further seven days in prison.

If the men come into money or assets in the future the court could seize them and award compensation to Mr Etheridge, from Dartford. Vincent Senior still faces paying almost £24,000 compensation over another rogue trader scam.

The pair are related to burglar Henry Vincent, 37, who was stabbed to death in a botched raid in south London last year.