A ROGUE trader who conned people in Herefordshire into paying thousands of pounds too much for double glazing has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Martin Evans targeted six householders and charged them altogether a total of more than £27,120 too much for the work, Worcester Crown Court was told.

The 41-year-old relied on the fact that they were of a generation who had been brought up to trust tradespeople and were loath to make a complaint, Recorder Benjamin Nicholls said in a sentencing hearing.

Evans, from Pandy, was found guilty of fraud after a trial in a prosecution brought by Herefordshire Council following an investigation by the trading standards department.

Assessors checked the work and found Evans had charged one victim £12,920 for work which should have cost no more than £3,251 - overcharging by £9,600.

Evans also took the man to the bank on two occasions to get money, the court heard.

He charged another victim £4,000 for work that should have cost £676 and another victim £3,000 for work that should have cost £864.

The other three were charged £1,800 for work worth £738, £2,800 for work worth £552 and £2,600 for £542 worth of work.

John Dyer, defending, said Evans had worked for double glazing firms and had then set himself up as self-employed but was struggling to make a living when he committed the offences between April and July, 2015.

He had been using a list of people who wanted work done and was operating in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.

Mr Dyer said Evans now worked as a window installer and his family would be caused considerable hardship by an immediate prison sentence.

Recorder Nicholls said the victims were not vulnerable but had been targeted because they were in their late sixties or early seventies.

"They were of a generation who trusted tradespeople to be honest and of a generation rather loath to complain when things go wrong," he said. "A number of them blamed themselves for having been taken in."

Evans ran the fraud by quoting an "absurdly" high price and then bringing it down.

"They were duped into thinking they were getting a bargain when they were paying two or three times the going rate," Recorder Nicholls said.

He said he had decided to give Evans a chance and gave him a total of two years suspended for two years with 260 hours of unpaid work within twelve months.

A proceeds of crime timetable has been set up.