Builder who preyed on vulnerable homeowners in Rawtenstall and Bacup jailed for fraud
Patrick Hartley took almost £700,000 from customers before declaring himself bankrupt
A builder who targeted vulnerable homeowners across the North West has been jailed for three years and nine months.
Patrick Damien Hartley, 51, from Weir in Bacup, took almost £700,000 from customers across 13 households, including in Rawtenstall and Bacup.
Trading Standards calculated the total devastation he caused at around £1 million before he declared himself bankrupt.
Hartley, known as Paddy, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on 28th August 2026 for offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and consumer protection regulations.
Substandard and unfinished work
The court heard Hartley repeatedly failed to carry out work he had charged customers tens of thousands of pounds for, or did substandard work that homeowners then had to pay thousands more to fix.
Among his victims was a woman from Rawtenstall who had previously been scammed by a different builder who ran off with a £12,000 deposit without doing any work.
Describing himself as her "knight in shining armour", Hartley agreed in January 2021 to build her a double-storey extension.
She gave him £59,406 but hardly any of the work was completed.
He offered to repay her £12,000 a month, but after she received just £3,250, he was declared bankrupt.
Two years after the work started, the property remains uninhabitable, and she has borrowed nearly £80,000 to get the job finished.
Couple lost chance to care for dying relative
A couple in Bacup were left devastated when their plans to take in an elderly relative for end-of-life care went wrong after Hartley failed to complete an extension.
The homeowner's mother was gravely ill when the couple accepted Hartley's quote of £74,000 to build a two-storey extension and driveway.
Despite the couple spending £55,800, only around 13% of the planned work was carried out.
The homeowner's mother spent her final days in the front room of the property, which had no heating or hot water.
The couple had to take out a further £30,000 loan to complete the build themselves.
'Despicable' behaviour
Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards led the prosecution, supported by Trading Standards colleagues in Greater Manchester and by Lancashire and Greater Manchester Police.
Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities, said:
"Patrick Hartley is one of the most prolific, heartless fraudsters that we have come across and could well be the most serious example of rogue trading that Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards has ever prosecuted.
"He deliberately preyed on consumers at some of their most vulnerable moments – especially for the victims that he cherry-picked in Bacup and Rawtenstall.
"He showed them no mercy and left them tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.
"For the couple in Bacup, he cost them the chance to make a much-loved family member's last few months easier. His behaviour was despicable."