A callous conman who ripped off customers to the tune of £15,000 with a bogus groundwork company has been jailed.
Over the course of four months Christopher Barlow, 37, of Argyle Street, Heywood conned five people into handing over large amounts of cash for work he did not complete.
At a sentencing hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court, prosecuting, Andrew Evans said that between July 28, 2020 and October 27, 2020 Barlow persuaded five members of the public to provide him with money on the understanding that work would be done. He did not complete any of that work, nor did he have the ability to do so, the court heard.
Mr Evans said: "The work in question was garden ground work, paving in the main, all tendered for under the umbrella of the defendant’s now defunct business Manchester Groundworks. That business operated via Facebook, advertising previous work on the Facebook site, and conducting communications via the Facebook Messaging app or by email. Never once was a physical or postal address given out."
The court heard how deposits were paid but work was never completed – in many cases not even begun, necessitating the complainants trying to track down Barlow. Occasionally he would reply, usually with an excuse and a new proposed date. Eventually in each case he ignored calls, messages and email, and each complainant then resorted to seeking help from Citizen’s Advice.
Mr Evans said: "The defendant was not easy to find – he told some of the complainants he was called “Chris Allan”, he routed payments through his son’s bank account and the registered details of the company used addresses of other family members. The business was set up in the name Christopher Paul Allan, born January 1985. This is not a real person.
"It was registered to the home of the defendant’s former partner in Rochdale, but a payment made to Companies House to register the business was made in the name of the defendant’s mother.
"Almost all payments requested from the complainants were paid in the name “Mr C C Barlow”. This was a current account belonging to his son, Connor Barlow.
Charges against Connor Barlow were not proceeded with by the Prosecution following this defendant’s entering acceptable pleas to the frauds.
Mr Evans said: "The complainants were incentivised to pay in this way by being offered lower charges for work done.
"Each of these, it is submitted, were deliberate acts to prevent any paper trail leading back to the defendant in the event he chose to leave his customers in the lurch.
"On August 6, Mr Barlow failed to attend an arranged appointment with a Mr Harvey to provide samples of stone. The same things happened a week later. No further contact was made for a month. He messaged to push back the start date, then did the same again a month later.
"By November he was sending messages that he had furloughed his staff due to lockdown rules. When that ended a month later Mr Harvey was told his work would be begun in January. January became February and by 27 February 2021 the customer decided to ask for his deposit back.
"Barlow offered him yet another start date, three weeks hence. He never appeared. By March 2021, five months after the originally agreed start date and seven months after paying his deposit he realised that the business had disappeared from Facebook."
The work was never begun, and the deposit was never repaid.
The court heard how customer Michael Kelshaw paid Barlow a deposit of £2,975 on August 31, 2020. He was provided with a start date of September 21 2020 but was given a new date of November - but nothing happened.
Mr Evans said two weeks later Mr Kelshaw asked to cancel the job and take thee deposit back.
"He received in reply an SMS from someone posing as the defendant’s mother saying he was ill in hospital. Still no work was begun and in late November he too contacted Citizen’s Advice. At their suggestion they were able to have their bank freeze the payment they’d made. This prompted renewed communication from the defendant saying he’d been unwell and asking them to desist in this action. He repeated this request in the run up to Christmas."
The court heard the bank unilaterally cancelled the freezing action in January 2021, to which Barlow sent Mr Kelshaw an emoji of the “v-sign” and a laughing face.
Mr Evans said: "In April 2021 Mr Kelshaw stated “It’s clear that it was a scam from the start. The differing names on the emails, Companies House and bank details were a clear warning sign, which I unfortunately only spotted after the money was sent. It’s clear Christopher has played me along and delayed us while he likely did the same to others."
The court heard how a Susan Brewster paid the defendant £750 on September 1, 2020. Mr Barlow had come to her home in person and explained he understood her concerns about sending the deposit, and gave her reasons as to why the bank account was in a different name. She was persuaded to send the money and was given an initial start date of September 26, 2020 but he called the week before to cancel.
After cancelling numerous times she called his number which answered by someone calling himself “Connor” who she felt was mocking her.
Mr Evans said: "She was not convinced the man at the other end wasn’t in fact that “Chris” that she’d been dealing with all along." She too was ignored, received no work and no return of her deposit.
Mr Evans said customer Zain Abideen was impressed by the Facebook profile and paid Barlow a deposit of £2274 on September 16, 2020 for which he expected work to begin on a patio priced at £6820 in mid November 2020.
He declined a request to make additional payments beyond his deposit, and the work did not begin. By January 2021 Mr Abideen was unable to get through on the phone, and was only able to connect with Barlow via Facebook Messenger. He was informed that Mr Barlow was in hospital.
Mr Evans said: "A new date of February 1, 2021 was proposed. Mr Abideen states that “Christopher Barlow kept mentioning payment, I felt like he was pressurising me to pay the next instalment. He hadn’t even started work at this point. He then wanted an additional £750 for paving stones as he said there had been a problem with the supplier”."
The court heard Mr Abideen again refused to pay more until five days work had been done. Mr Barlow did not turn up as promised or the following day citing problems with the digger. Work eventually began with further demands for payment being made on day three.. Barlow told Mr Abideen that his account had been frozen and was able to persuade him to make a further £2000 payment to a different bank account on February 5, 2021. He was told that materials had been ordered and would arrive the next day.
Mr Evans said: "He never saw Mr Barlow again. All messages and calls went unanswered.
Customer, Ms Roxanne Caliz was given several failed start dates despite paying her £550 deposit. After a few months she texted Barlow to ask when work would begin, saying she’d been ripped off.
Mr Evans said: "He replied to say that without a contract there was nothing she could do. She informed the defendant she knew the mother of his child and knew where he lived, which prompted the arrival of one Aiden Armitage who told her “Chris had sent him to pull some flags up”. Armitage worked for a few days and removed her old patio, whilst persuading her to pay him a further £230 cash “for materials”.
"The work was completed to a very poor standard “stone flags re-laid with a spot of sand and cement under each corner ... uneven and a complete mess”, she describes it as “a complete disgrace” and “worse than when they started”. In February 2021 Ms Caliz contacted the defendant and called him a conman. He offered to pay her £200, she demanded full repayment and he texted back calling her a “scruff”, ending “haha”. She was left with a poorly laid patio for the price of £380."
Defending, Neil Ronan told the court Barlow was suffering from a gambling addiction and was taking steps to overcome it and said he "doted" on his children, asking that he be spared custody for their sakes.
Judge Bernadette Baxter told Barlow, who has 23 previous convictions for 39 offences, that no matter how many times he was given an opportunity through community orders and suspended sentences, "Still you have not availed yourself from the probation services."
She sentenced Barlow, who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, to 18 months custody for each count of fraud to run concurrently with a further four months custody for breach of two suspended sentence orders made for disqualified driving and taking a vehicle - a total of 22 months imprisonment.
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