The man who answered his door in October 2021 told Patrick Connors he wasn't interested. Connors started work anyway — and didn't stop until 24 payments had left the victim's account.

Connors, 44, of Bristol, and John McEvoy, 33, of Cardiff, arrived uninvited at a house near York and told the owner he needed his fascias and soffits repaired. When the victim — a man in his early sixties who lived alone — said no, they ignored him and began work on the roof.

It was the opening move in a fraud that would run for ten weeks. Once on the roof, the pair began "discovering" additional problems — further damage, structural concerns, then a crack in the plasterwork inside the house. Each new finding came with a payment demand. The victim, the court heard, was intimidated. He paid.

Twenty-four payments. No written agreement.

Between October and December 2021, the victim made 24 separate payments to Connors and McEvoy totalling £92,930. No written contract was ever provided. No itemised quote. No record of what the money was supposed to cover. The payments were made under repeated pressure to a pair of men who had knocked on his door uninvited.

Neighbours reported the activity to North Yorkshire Police in January 2022. Officers investigated — and on 5 January 2022, Connors and McEvoy were arrested as they returned to the property to carry out yet more work.

A pattern. Not a first offence.

Patrick Connors was not new to this. Court records confirmed he had previously served prison sentences for similar crimes — as well as for burglary and fraud. His record was not a side note; it was the context in which the York fraud took place.

While on bail for the York offences, Connors was stopped in North London inside a stolen car — a vehicle taken from Bristol. In the car: men wearing balaclavas and carrying tools intended for use in crime. The bail condition had not slowed him down.

"Connors and McEvoy intimidated the victim to pay a large amount of money for repairs that were not asked for and not needed by the homeowner. This clearly demonstrates a callous criminal tactic that is often used by rogue builders." — Detective Constable Nick Lane, Economic Crime Unit, North Yorkshire Police

The verdict and what followed

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation. The charge covered the period from 1 October 2021 to 5 January 2022 — the day of their arrest.

An expert witness surveyor assessed the work carried out at the property and confirmed it was of very poor standard. The victim has had approximately half the money refunded by his bank. The remaining losses are substantial.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed that other suspects have been identified and arrested as part of the investigation. Those cases will be dealt with separately.

What a check would have found

Connors and McEvoy arrived with no business name, no written quote, and no verifiable credentials. A search for either name on Companies House returns no active registered company. Neither appears on TrustMark or the Federation of Master Builders register. The Individual Insolvency Register surfaces prior financial irregularities.

The most important signal was the one that didn't require any check at all: they arrived uninvited, were told no, and started work regardless. No legitimate contractor operates that way.