A rogue builder, whose company allegedly duped a Hornchurch man out of thousands of pounds, has been jailed for fraudulent offences.

Christopher Escrader, of Little Melton in Norwich, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on September 13 to three years imprisonment after pleading guilty to four offences of fraudulent trading.

He was also disqualified from being a company director for seven years.

Essex Trading Standards said Escrader, 35, of School Lane,  had promised to deliver luxury garden rooms to customers in London and Essex, but victims were left with incomplete builds and in one case with no build at all.

It launched an investigation in September 2019 after receiving “numerous complaints” from Escrader’s customers.

The Recorder reported in that year on the story of Alan Street, then 36 and from Hornchurch, who had paid £44,000 to Escrader's company Hudson Garden Rooms but alleged he only received an empty timber frame in his back garden.

A spokesperson for Essex County Council said that although there were a “larger number of victims”, the sentence was based solely on the evidence provided by six victims and these did not include Mr Street.

The companies identified from the complaints were named as be Hudson Garden Rooms Limited, Hudson Bespoke Builders Limited, Hudson (Essex) Limited and Hudson Living Limited.

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Officers conducting the probe found that Hudson Garden Rooms Limited was liquidated but Escrader continued to trade and receive money in different business accounts.

Escrader, the officers noted, visited the victims, and created 3D drawings of the dream builds.

Prices for these ranged from £20,000 to £108,000. He had then set installation dates and taken 90 per cent of the payment in advance before starting any work.

These start dates, they found, were often delayed. Construction was said to have started in some cases but then slowed down or ceased after a period.

In some cases, customers had reportedly paid up to £7,500 for planning permission and building control approval, despite no applications being made by Escrader.

The six victims, the council spokesperson added, had paid more than £278,000 to Escrader.

The council said they lost all the money they had paid to Escrader.

They had to, in addition, pay extra money to finish the half-done jobs, ensure planning and building control was approved and in some cases even pay solicitors' fees to resolve the issue. Collectively, between the six victims, this amounted to about £150,000.

Councillor Mark Durham, cabinet member responsible for Essex Trading Standards, said: “This prosecution shows we take illegal business activity very seriously and will not hesitate to take action against fraudsters where necessary.”