A FRAUDSTER who conned the elderly into paying him for bogus building work was jailed today (Monday).

The man, who posed as a roofer, despite having no professional experience in the trade, conned two elderly Hillingdon couples in their 80s into paying him around £42,000 for work that was never carried out in the summer of 2013.

The shock of the fraud caused one of his victims to suffer a fatal heart attack.

Roy Stratford, of no fixed address, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court to four and a half years in prison.

He had pleaded guilty to both offences at the same court on Thursday.

On July 5, 2013 Stratford visited the elderly occupants of a home in Oakleigh Road, Uxbridge, posing as a roofer. He claimed he had been notified about an ongoing problem and an alleged leak in their roof.

At the time, Stratford was using the name Roy Loveridge.

Stratford returned four days later to carry out the alleged repair work but spent no longer then a couple of hours at the address. The only material brought into the home was one roll of roofing felt.

He then presented the couple with a bill of £26,000, which they duly paid in cash and in good faith, assuming the work had been carried out.

Stratford gave the couple a receipt from a non-existent construction firm in Iver.

An independent survey was later conducted following concerns that the work had not been carried out.

It established that the only alteration made was some felting Stratford had nailed in the roof interior.

The shock of the survey's findings caused the elderly woman occupier to collapse and she suffered a fatal heart attack in front of her husband.

Stratford made similar bogus visits to an address in Church Road, West Drayton, over a seven-day period in late August and early September.

Again, he claimed the home was in need of emergency roofing repair work, this time to the exterior tile slats.

The occupant parted with about £16,000 in cash, but all that had been done was the painting of the outer chimney stack.

Hillingdon detectives quickly established that similar offences were under investigation elsewhere in the country by a man fitting Stratford's description.

Information was shared and, with the help of Wiltshire police, Stratford was arrested in January last year. No money was ever located.

Det Con Anji Dawson said: "Stratford has never given an explanation for his actions nor has he shown any remorse for his crimes.

“He is quite simply a cowboy and a coward who targeted and exploited the elderly and vulnerable for his own financial gain. He tricked his way into their homes and conned them out of their life savings.

"I hope Stratford's imprisonment brings some form of justice to his victims and their families.”