Cowboy builder who took £300,000 from four separate families is jailed for nine months

A cowboy builder who that took £300,000 from four separate families but left their homes in ruin has been jailed.

To complete Tony Mottram’s, 45, unfinished work- his victims had to fork out an extra £200,000, leaving them out of pocket and their ‘lives ruined’.

Details of Mottram’s disastrous building work was heard by St Albans Crown Court, Hertfordshire.

This included leaving loft conversions without roofs, live wires hanging from ceilings and leaving a breeze block wall un-adjoined that fell and almost killed a homeowner’s children.

One of Mottram’s victims, Carla Claydon spoke about how he ruined their family home and stole their life savings after promising her a loft conversion

Carla, 44, said that the stress Mottram caused made her 'hair to fall out', and her 'distraught' husband lost two stone over the two year ordeal. Pictured: The home covered in scaffolding for the promised loft conversion

Carla, 44, said that the stress Mottram caused made her ‘hair to fall out’, and her ‘distraught’ husband lost two stone over the two year ordeal. Pictured: The home covered in scaffolding for the promised loft conversion

Carla Claydon's house in St Albans, Herts which was left in a state by builder Tony Mottram who promised them a loft conversion

Carla Claydon’s house in St Albans, Herts which was left in a state by builder Tony Mottram who promised them a loft conversion

Carla, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, hired the cowboy to build a loft extension for their semi-detached home in February 2017. Mottram even managed to con a free holiday out of them

Carla, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, hired the cowboy to build a loft extension for their semi-detached home in February 2017. Mottram even managed to con a free holiday out of them

The couple, who have two children aged six and seven, paid Mottram £37,000 to build the conversion but had to pay another £30,000 out of their life savings to repair the damage he caused

The couple, who have two children aged six and seven, paid Mottram £37,000 to build the conversion but had to pay another £30,000 out of their life savings to repair the damage he caused

Mottram has been jailed for nine months and is disqualified from being a company director for seven years.

One of his victims, Carla Claydon spoke about how Mottram ruined their family home and stole their life savings after promising her a loft conversion.

Carla, 44, said that the stress Mottram caused made her ‘hair to fall out’, and her ‘distraught’ husband lost two stone over the two year ordeal.

Carla, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, hired the cowboy to build a loft extension for their semi-detached home in February 2017.

After three months of hell they sacked him as he left their family home as a building site, destroying bathrooms that weren’t asked to be removed, and not paying staff.

Shockingly, Mottram even conned a holiday out of the couple.

Carla said: ‘He told us that he needed to say goodbye to his dying father in Spain, we paid for his holiday.

‘His father lived in Stevenage. He lied.’

The couple, who have two children aged six and seven, paid Mottram £37,000 to build the conversion but had to pay another £30,000 out of their life savings to repair the damage he caused.

Carla and her husband have also found themselves in A&E after injuring themselves while trying to fix the mistakes that Mottram made

Carla and her husband have also found themselves in A&E after injuring themselves while trying to fix the mistakes that Mottram made

Carla alleges that because Mottram was not paying his workers, they began to have a physical altercation, causing them to fight one another and even threatened the family.

She said: ‘One of the builders said he was going to ‘take every nail out of your loft and burn you and your husband in your bed.’

Carla and her husband Stewart notified the police about this threat.

Almost two years later since Mottram stopped working for Carla, the family still haven’t recovered financially.

She now has had to start working full time at her job as a housing officer to pay off their debt, meaning that she cannot stay with her two children for as long as she wants.

She said: ‘They are struggling to understand the big change, they keep asking me where I’m going and are getting very upset.’

Carla and her husband have also found themselves in A&E after injuring themselves while trying to fix the mistakes that Mottram made: ‘He left a breezeblock wall completely unajoined to anything, it fell on my husband and tore his arm to shreds.

If it fell the otherway it would have killed my children.’

Carla said that despite being taken to court after an extensive investigation by the Trading Standards Authority, Mottram still started up a new building company- Choice Lofts Ltd.

On their website it says: ‘Project Manager Tony Mottram has been trading for over 29 years in the building industry.’

She said: ‘He’s still doing it, I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Still hurting families.’

When Choice Lofts Ltd were contacted to reply but the phone line rang out.

Mottram pleaded guilty to charges of managing a business to defraud creditors and engaging in commercial practice with misleading or false information in March.

  • Do you know Tony Mottram? Has he done work for you? Email joe.middleton@mailonline.co.uk 

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