Sunderland tree scammer charged pensioner £18,000 for £300 work

John Reid, 43, was given three cheques by his victim after convincing him of the sky-high price for branch trimming at his council-rented home.

The crook, jailed for three-and-a-half years in January for six similar offences, cashed the payments between July and August 2020.

The scam took place in South Tyneside, where council bosses confirmed to prosecutors it would have cost a reputable firm just £300 to scale the trees back.

Reid, previously of Mardale Street, Hetton, was hauled into South Tyneside Magistrates' Court from his cell in HMP Durham to face a new fraud charge.

He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation and will be returned to Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced on Tuesday, May 2.

Magistrates were told Reid’s victim had since died from Covid, having been compensated just £2,000.

Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “The complainant was an elderly gentleman. In the July and August, he wrote out three cheques for £18,000 in total.

“It was for some work on trees in his garden. The cheques were made out to Mr Reid who admitted cashing them.

“He denied carrying out a fraud, saying it was remediation works carried out by a third party.”

He added: “The crown would say it is a case of high culpability, he played a deliberate role, and it was deliberately targeting a vulnerable victim.”

Jason Smith, defending, said Reid had been acting on behalf of a company he named as Evergreen, but gave no further details.

He said Evergreen was carrying out general remedial work at the man’s property and that its boss had asked Reid to cash the cheques and pass on the money.

Mr Smith added: “Evergreen has gone to this man’s home, and he said he needed some work doing, some trees needed pulling down.

“Mr Reid has done some of the work for which he was getting paid. Evergreen insisted the cheques were processed through his account.

“Whilst the victim was 74, the reality is that there’s no evidence that he had any form of vulnerability.”

Magistrates declined jurisdiction to sentence and committed the case to the crown court.