A rogue builder who left homeowners facing rain pouring through cracked ceilings after abandoning unfinished projects has been jailed after taking around £1 million from victims.
Patrick Damien Hartley, 52, was branded one of the “most prolific and heartless” fraudsters Lancashire County Council had ever encountered.
The builder defrauded 13 households across north-west England of more than £700,000. Many victims were then forced to spend thousands of pounds extra to complete or repair the work he had left unfinished.
In one distressing video, rain can be seen hammering onto a homeowner’s kitchen table. Other footage shows barely completed extensions, with rubbish and building debris scattered across the floors.
Photographs taken by victims also showed homes left supported on stilts, while scaffolding remained standing beside walls with no windows.
Lancashire County Council began prosecuting Hartley after homeowners reported him to the authority in September 2022.
Investigators found that he had repeatedly taken thousands of pounds for work he failed to complete. Earlier this year, Hartley pleaded guilty to fraud and consumer protection offences committed between 2020 and 2023.
He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison at Preston Crown Court, although victims said they believed the punishment was too lenient.
Patrick Damien Hartley, 52, left homeowners thousands of pounds out of pocket after abandoning construction projects
Footage showed cracks left in the ceilings of homes targeted by the rogue builder
Other extensions were left completely unfinished, with some homeowners forced to pay as much as £89,000 to put Hartley’s botched work right
Phillippa Edgar, 48, paid Hartley almost £100,000 over eight months to build a single-storey rear extension and a double-storey side garage extension at her home in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
The mother of two had originally agreed a deal worth about £105,000, with the construction expected to take just ten weeks.
Instead, the renovation was abandoned before it could be completed. Ms Edgar was left having to spend up to £89,000 on remedial work to make the building safe and ensure it complied with regulations.
She said: “This was supposed to be our dream home, but it became anything but that.
“The situation was incredibly stressful and upsetting. It affected everything from my children’s school lives to my marriage.
“Hartley is a conman who knew exactly what he was doing. Lie after lie was given to explain why the work had not been finished.
“He eventually left the extensions as two brick shells and took our hard-earned money.
“He left the roof open to the rain, which flooded into our house. We had to set up a pump to remove as much water as possible.
“Hartley is a horrid man who deserves to rot in prison.”
Another victim was Joanne Dagostina, 42, who in November 2021 was provided a quote of £34,800 for an extension and fitted kitchen at her semi-detached three-bed home in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Work started in January 2022 but further jobs were later agreed, including the installation of a damp proof course to the existing property and a new bathroom.
But by August 2022 Ms Dagostina decided to sack Hartley, having already paid him £64,216.
A fan fitting at one of the homes which Hartley was hired to work on
Poorly attached tarpaulin on the roof of a home in Lancashire which the cowboy builder worked on
Hartley left Phillippa Edgar’s house in a state of ruin after he was handed almost £100,000 to build a garage extension
Tarpaulin is seen over Ms Edgar’s home, leaving the roof open to rain and the home’s interior susceptible to flooding
It was only after a structural engineer came to the house that she found out he hadn’t installed any steel beams. It meant the woman’s roof could collapse ‘at any moment’.
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Ms Dagostina said: ‘The blatant lack of care and disrespect to put my family in danger is unforgivable.
‘The engineer told me the extension ceiling was failing by 200 per cent and to prop it as soon as possible.
‘He said it would collapse if we didn’t and if it did it would take the next-door neighbours with it – I was furious.
‘I am disappointed with his sentencing as to me it was premeditated and he knew how to take advantage.’
Pelin Akin, 49, and Wellington Tsang, 55, also fell victim to Hartley, losing over £105,000 in the process.
They approached him for a loft conversion with a dormer window as well as a driveway at their three-bed house in Sale, Greater Manchester.
Hartley quoted £48,000 with the work starting in April 2021, but by June the Senior Travel Consultant said construction had ‘slowed down’ before he left the site in early 2022.
He said the renovations would take eight weeks to complete. Including other agreed work, Ms Akin paid him £47,500 but had ‘no roof and an empty attic to show for it’.
The family has since had the building work completed by a reputable trader at a cost of £59,000.
Approximately £8,000 of that expense was used to correct Hartley’s work and bring it into compliance with building control requirements.
She said: ‘The excuses he gave for the work not being completed were ridiculous – they included his workers being drunk and his and the van needing its MoT.
‘Hartley started with being very accommodating.
‘But when we started challenging him for why he wasn’t on the site his messages became more threatening.
‘My work suffered, I was signed off with stress. I added lots of cameras and security to our home just in case he or his representatives decided to visit us.
Joanna Dagostina’s kitchen in Oldham, Greater Manchester, is seen in a state of disrepair
Ms Dagostina eventually decided to sack Hartley having already paid him £64,216
Dirt and rubbish is left strewn across the ground in Pelin Akin and Wellington Tsang’s property
‘I am starting to relax knowing that he is behind bars.’
More victims included a couple in Bacup, Lancashire, who were left devastated when their plans to take in an elderly relative and provide her with end-of-life care went wrong when Hartley failed to complete an extension for her.
The homeowner’s mother spent her final days in the front room of the property, which had no heating or hot water.
The Lancashire Trading Standards investigation into Hartley was assisted by officers from other local authorities, GMP and Lancashire Constabulary.
He was charged with criminal offences involving 13 different households in Lancashire and Greater Manchester in 2023.
Then, in March 2024, he formally entered not guilty pleas to 26 offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and his case was listed for trial in June 2025.
In May 2025, he pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006 and three counts under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Alongside his prison sentence, Hartley was given a seven-year criminal behaviour order stopping him from owning a business which takes part in private building work.
His case is currently the subject of confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, according to the Trading Standards.
Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities, described Hartley as ‘one of the most prolific and heartless fraudsters’ that the council has come across.
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