Cowboy builder jailed for 14 years for £1.25m fraud

A prolific cowboy builder who defrauded 37 customers out of more than £1.25m has been jailed for 14 years.

Mark Killick, from Paulton in North East Somerset, also used the names Marc Cole and Mark Jenkins when he agreed to take on building work.

Between 2019 and 2021, while trading as TD Cole, he failed to complete work for dozens of customers despite many of them paying tens of thousands of pounds up front.

Sentencing Killick, 49, at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Moira Macmillan told him he had caused "serious and ongoing" harm to his victims, leaving their homes in a "truly shocking" state.

It is the fourth time Killick has been found guilty of fraud since 2008, and police estimate the 37 victims in this case collectively lost more than £1.25m.

During his five-month trial the prosecution highlighted Killick's spending on luxury goods, including a £25,000 Rolex watch he claimed was an asset for the failing business.

Dozens of victims also gave evidence against him, telling how their homes had been ruined by his unfinished work.

The jury found him not guilty on one count, and failed to reach verdicts on eight others.

"You decided to exploit the need for building services in the pandemic. In contrast to others in the industry you visited immediately and at short notice," the judge added.

"You transferred money multiple times through business accounts and your own and your wife's accounts. This made it impossible to establish what happened to individual payments.

"You bought yourself Rolex watches including one you paid for using a Covid bounceback loan.

"You repeatedly asked clients to advance you further funds even though little or no progress was being made."

Avon and Somerset Police and Trading Standards received more than 100 complaints against Killick covering a period between 2019 and 2021.

Originally from Neath in South Wales, Killick has asked the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal against his conviction.

In court, he said he had always run an honest business and did not intend to defraud his customers.

Killick will be made subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) that will last for five years from the date he is released from prison.

The exact details of the SCPO are still to be finalised, but it is likely to require him to be known consistently by the name Marc Cole, and will prevent him making money from building work.

He will also be subject to a 15-year order disqualifying him from being a company director.

At trial, Killick claimed he would have completed all the outstanding jobs if he had not been arrested in November 2021.

"Of course I'm angry," said Stephen Gledhill from Bristol, one of Killick's customers.

"But I just feel sad for him [Killick] really that he's behaved in that way without any kind of real indication that he cares."

Killick has a decades-long criminal record.

In 2006, he was handed a 12-year Bankruptcy Restriction Order which prevented him getting more than £500 credit without revealing the order.

He went on to plead guilty to fraud in 2008, 2009 and 2014.

The 2014 conviction involved 42 victims, whose losses he accepted at £573,000.

He has had six custodial sentences, including three for unspecified crimes in magistrates' courts in the 1990s, the Ministry of Justice said.