Cowboy builder jailed for 14 years for £1.25m fraud

A prolific cowboy builder who defrauded 37 customers out of more than £1.25m has been jailed for 14 years.

Mark Killick, from Paulton in North East Somerset, also used the names Marc Cole and Mark Jenkins when he agreed to take on building work.

Between 2019 and 2021, while trading as TD Cole, he failed to complete work for dozens of customers despite many of them paying tens of thousands of pounds up front.

Sentencing Killick, 56, at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Moira Macmillan told him he had caused "serious and ongoing" harm to his victims, leaving their homes in a "truly shocking" state.

It is the fourth time Killick has been found guilty of fraud since 2008, and police estimate the 37 victims in this case collectively lost more than £1.25m.

During his five-month trial the prosecution highlighted Killick's spending on luxury goods, including a £25,000 Rolex watch he claimed was an asset for the failing business.

Dozens of victims also gave evidence against him, telling how their homes had been ruined by his unfinished work.

Killick, of Shoe Lane, was found guilty of 37 counts of fraud and cleared of one at Bristol Crown Court.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on eight further charges against him.

"You decided to exploit the need for building services in the pandemic. In contrast to others in the industry you visited immediately and at short notice," the judge added.

"You transferred money multiple times through business accounts and your own and your wife's accounts. This made it impossible to establish what happened to individual payments.

"You bought yourself Rolex watches including one you paid for using a Covid bounceback loan.

"You repeatedly asked clients to advance you further funds even though little or no progress was being made."

Avon and Somerset Police and Trading Standards received more than 100 complaints against Killick covering a period between 2019 and 2021.

Originally from Neath in South Wales, Killick has asked the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal against his conviction.

In court, he said he had always run an honest business and did not intend to defraud his customers.

Killick will be made subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) that will last for five years from the date he is released from prison.

The exact details of the SCPO are still to be finalised, but it is likely to require him to be known consistently by the name Marc Cole, and will prevent him making money from building work.

He will also be subject to a 15-year order disqualifying him from being a company director.

At trial, Killick claimed he would have completed all the outstanding jobs if he had not been arrested in November 2021.

Killick has a decades-long criminal record.

In 2006, he was handed a 12-year Bankruptcy Restriction Order which prevented him getting more than £500 credit without revealing the order.

He went on to plead guilty to fraud in 2008, 2009 and 2014.

The 2014 conviction involved 42 victims, whose losses he accepted at £573,000.

He has had six custodial sentences, including three for unspecified crimes in magistrates' courts in the 1990s, the Ministry of Justice said.

"Of course I'm angry," said Stephen Gledhill from Bristol.

"But I just feel sad for him [Killick] really that he's behaved in that way without any kind of real indication that he cares."

Mr Gledhill is one of the dozens of Mark Killick's customers who gave evidence against him.

He paid Killick - who he knew as Marc Cole - about £18,000 in advance for a new kitchen.

The payments included a £10,000 deposit and £8,000 for kitchen units that were never ordered.

"I just feel really shocked that he could go through with something like that, telling multiple lies to so many people," he said.

Mr Gledhill said he had researched Killick's company TD Cole, including on Companies House, and had no reason to think it was not genuine.

He found Killick "jovial" and knowledgeable, and was reassured when he told him he had about 100 staff.

In fact Killick had no directly-employed staff and after sub-contractors did "no more than three hours" work in Mr Gledhill's kitchen, he said Killick became difficult to contact and no more work took place.

Many of those defrauded, including Mr Gledhill, found support in a WhatsApp group for his victims.

Many of those defrauded, including Mr Gledhill, found support in a WhatsApp group for his victims.

And at least a dozen of them got advice in free zoom seminars hosted by financial fraud investigator Richard Emery - sessions which helped many of them get refunds.

Mr Emery told the BBC a financial code in place at the time means many got their money back from their banks.

"The starting point for the CRM code is the bank has to reimburse," he said.

"[It applies] when somebody pays money for what they believed was a legitimate purpose, but which turns out to be fraudulent.

"The victim does not have to prove the bank did anything wrong," he added.

And he says that anyone defrauded by Killick may even now be able to claim a refund.

"That's even if you claimed in the past and your bank rejected you because they claimed it was not fraud."

Mr Emery says he provided advice for free because of his Christian faith.

He says, "As it says it various places in the Bible, faith without works is a bit useless."