Jail for plumber who gave cowboy traders a bad name

 A judge has said cowboy traders can be “professional, legitimate and hard working”, as he jailed a rogue plumber.

Rick Goldthorpe, 34, was jailed for 16 months at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, for health and safety breaches after he gave a false name and botched boiler installations.

One victim was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes and another was left £7,000 in debt when Goldthorpe refused to return calls.

Judge Bernard Lever told him: “I cannot even call you a cowboy because actually apart from not having good regard to the niceties and regulations, some cowboy traders can at times be professional, legitimate, hard working people – you are something far worse.”

Goldthorpe, from St Helens, Merseyside, was exposed on the BBC Watchdog show bluffing his way into victims’ properties with a T-shirt that falsely proclaimed him to be a Gas Safe registered engineer.