A RIP-OFF roofer from St Helens has been jailed for 18 months after bullying a Cumbrian pensioner into paying an extortionate fee for work carried out on her house.

Rico Charles Henry Evans (18), from Beaufort Street, Peasley Cross, was the first person in England and Wales to be sentenced for breaching legislation aimed at clamping down on bogus traders.

On July 5 last year, he called at the house of a 79-year-old widow in Kells, Whitehaven and told her that her roof needed fixing.

Using aggressive tactics to try and secure work, Evans convinced the pensioner that he should return two days later.

Over that weekend she had decided not to employ Evans or his gang, but was woken at 7am on Monday by the noise of men clambering on her roof.

Despite her protests, Evans and his group continued to work until they had finished. He then demanded £1,100 and drove the woman to her local bank to withdraw the cash.

After the police and trading standards were alerted a local surveyor carried out an inspection of the work and concluded that she had been ‘grossly overcharged’ and valued the job at around £100.

Evans pleaded guilty to one charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act 2008 and two offences against the Fraud Act 2006.

He was also handed a ten-year Anti Social behaviour Order preventing him from calling at people’s homes for building or gardening work.

Sentencing the teenager, Judge Batty said: “Evans was a member of a gang from Merseyside travelling around the North West targeting elderly and vulnerable people.”

Phil Ashcroft, Head of Cumbria Trading Standards who brought about the prosecution said: “Let this be a lesson to all bogus traders who travel to Cumbria to target the elderly. In Cumbria we will adopt a zero tolerance towards them. This case also shows the extent to which these offenders will travel to commit their crimes.”

Evans asked for four similar offences committed in Knowsley to be taken into consideration on sentencing.