Garden left in a mess after couple paid rogue trader £15k
A ROGUE trader left a family’s garden in a “complete mess” after being paid more than £15,000, a court has heard.
Aneurin Shawyer, 27, stopped turning up to the job – which he took on under the name of a nonexistent company – and his father Robert Shawyer, 56, also failed to complete the work when he stepped in to finish it.
Aneurin Shawyer initially agreed to undertake £15,000 of work at the home of Christine Crocker and her husband in Blackwood.
But months later the work was incomplete. The family had paid him £15,421 and were a total of £23,000 out of pocket including the costs for other contractors to make their garden safe after it was left exposed.
On February 3, 2022, Aneurin Shawyer visited the house, prosecutor Thomas Stanway told a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court.
The couple were looking for a new fence as well as other improvements, including the garden being levelled and new decking installed.
Mrs Crocker had a £10,000 budget but Shawyer initially quoted her £20,000 before going back with a revised £15,000 figure.
When he wrote to her he used a letterhead and logo of AS Groundworks/Landscaping Ltd, which was never registered as a limited company and in effect was fake.
He began the job at the start of March working with his father Robert and a labourer. Initially it went well and Mrs Crocker was happy with the progress but over the next few months, during which Mrs Crocker paid Aneurin Shawyer £15,421, the work was left incomplete and to a poor standard.
The family noticed Aneurin Shawyer was only on site for four hours a day and by the end of May they were getting complaints from neighbours because the work was incomplete.
On April 18, Aneurin Shawyer messaged to ask for more money for a digger rental which Mrs Crocker refused as the work was taking so long. After the digger’s owner visited to convince her to pay, Mrs Crocker agreed to pay £1,750 directly to the owner taking her to a total of more than £17,000 out of pocket.
As Aneurin Shawyer kept failing to turn up when he said he would Mrs Crocker gave him two weeks to complete the work. By May 12, after she received no response, she asked for £5,000 back so she could hire someone else to complete the work. With no reply, no refund and the garden in what the judge described as “a complete mess”, Aneurin Shawyer’s father offered to complete the work.
He still seemed a trustworthy and helpful person who was frustrated with his son’s work, said the prosecution, so Mrs Crocker agreed.
Ultimately he also failed to complete the job, leaving Mrs Crocker a further £1,935 out of pocket. Initially this figure was cited as £3,935 but the prosecution and defence agreed £2,000 worth of materials were successfully delivered as promised.
The family’s garden was left open to trespass and Mr Crocker had to erect his own fence before they paid £2,000 to another contractor to keep the house safe. The couple had spent a total of £23,000 by this stage.
Aneurin Shawyer, of Grey Gardens, Machen, contacted Mrs Crocker about setting up a payment plan to repay the money but she did not reply, having lost all faith in him.
In July 2022, an expert confirmed the work was of an “exceptionally poor, incomplete standard” and a back-and-forth followed with Aneurin and Robert Shawyer investigated by trading standards.
A surveyor’s notes given to the Echo by Caerphilly council after the sentencing said a project of this nature should take three to four weeks to complete and the timber deck was made of correct materials but incorrectly built with a “demonstrable lack” of timber framing and decking technique and fixing. The surveyor added: “The decking and fencing work is so badly executed that it is not possible to undertake any form of meaningful remedial work without complete removal.”
The council brought a private prosecution and, at a hearing on November 29, 2023, Aneurin Shawyer pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and two regulatory offences, and Robert Shawyer, of Green Hill Place, Gelligaer, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.
Aneurin Shawyer’s barrister Gareth Williams said his client had “fully intended to do the work” and had the “best intentions” and was now “remorseful”. Describing his client as “vulnerable”, he added that Aneurin Shawyer struggles with his mental health and was unable to cope with the scale of the work and has not worked since due to the impact on his mental health.
Robert Shawyer’s barrister Edward Mitchard said his client was working to address his underlying problems with drug use and engaging with Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service.
Aneurin Shawyer had no previous convictions but his father had 20 for a total of 39 offences dating back to 1985. At the time of the fraud offence he was serving a suspended sentence for a driving offence.
Judge Paul Hopkins KC found no aggravating factors for Aneurin Shawyer but in mitigation noted he had expressed “some remorse”, and had a significant history of mental health issues.
Robert Shawyer’s previous convictions were an aggravating factor and the judge noted the fact he breached his suspended sentence, but had not committed a crime since, and in mitigation mentioned his significant remorse.
Aneurin Shawyer was given an 11-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He must undertake 10 days of rehabilitation in the next 12 months and will have a three-month electronically monitored curfew from 7pm to 7am.
He was ordered to pay a total of £5,000 in compensation.
Robert Shawyer was given a 28-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. He must undertake eight days of rehabilitation and also has a three-month 7pm to 7am curfew. He must pay £1,800 in compensation.