Patrick Damien Hartley, a 52-year-old builder, has been jailed for three years and nine months after defrauding 13 households across north-west England of over £700,000. Described as "one of the most prolific and heartless" fraudsters by Lancashire County Council, Hartley systematically abandoned construction projects between 2020 and 2023, leaving homes structurally unsafe with water damage, missing safety features and incomplete work. The case highlights the vulnerability of homeowners to cowboy builders and the serious financial and emotional toll of such fraud.

Hartley pleaded guilty to fraud and consumer protection offences at Preston Crown Court. Victims were forced to spend thousands of pounds rectifying his work; one homeowner, Phillippa Edgar, paid nearly £100,000 for a garage extension left as two brick shells with the roof open to rain, requiring an additional £89,000 in remedial works. Another victim, Joanne Dagostina, discovered that critical structural elements such as steel beams had not been installed, leaving her extension ceiling "failing by 200 per cent" and at imminent risk of collapse. Despite the conviction, some victims felt the sentence was lenient given the scale and impact of the fraud.