A Neath roofer described by a judge as a “garrulous charmer only intent on taking wholly innocent people for a ride” has been jailed for defrauding his customers — many of them elderly — out of around £40,000.
Richard Murnane, 42, of Llewelyn Street, Neath, ran two fraudulent businesses — RM Property and Maintenance and S & R Roofing — and was sentenced to 32 months in prison at Swansea Crown Court.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of participating in a fraudulent business, following a lengthy and complex investigation by Neath Port Talbot Council‘s Trading Standards team.
The court heard Murnane would often begin with a simple gutter-cleaning job — before telling the householder he had found serious problems with their roof that would cost thousands of pounds to put right.
He would demand large deposits up front — many paid into third-party bank accounts rather than his own — and provided no receipts, contracts or paperwork.
Quotes would then be inflated, with Murnane pestering his victims for extra payments once work had started, often claiming he needed the cash to pay his employees. On occasions he made claims about the safety of an existing roof to scare householders — while scaffolding and skips they had paid for never arrived.
Jobs were dragged out for months with a series of excuses, the court heard, with Murnane disappearing for periods or abandoning work unfinished.
Experts who later inspected his work found it to be of an “abysmal” quality that failed to meet basic industry standards or building regulations — with “little or no evidence of a basic level of skill or competence”.
In many cases, the work he claimed was needed had never been necessary at all, while other jobs were “largely worthless”. Many victims were left with significant water damage and huge bills to repair — or entirely replace — what he had done.
(Images: Neath Port Talbot Council)
One victim, an elderly widow, described Murnane as having “the gift of the gab” and said she felt “cornered” into handing over more and more cash.
Lee Reynolds, prosecuting for the council, called it “a well-planned operation involving a consistent and dishonest approach to what were often vulnerable victims” — and said the £40,000 figure was “perhaps a generous one”, as it excluded the cost of putting the damage right.
Sentencing, Judge Huw Rees said Murnane had been “consistently and inherently dishonest” in his dealings with customers.
“It seems to me from what I have read about you that you played the role of ‘Jack the lad’, a garrulous charmer only intent on taking wholly innocent people for a ride,” he told him. “This case is a classic example of a rogue builder — only those who have been on the rough side of a builder’s attitude such as yours really knows the distress caused.”
Murnane, who has six previous convictions for eight offences including assault but none for similar matters, was said by his barrister to be ashamed and remorseful. With a quarter discount for his guilty pleas, he will serve 40 per cent of the 32-month sentence in custody before release on licence.
Cllr Cen Phillips, the council’s cabinet member whose portfolio includes Trading Standards, said the case demonstrated “the serious impact rogue traders and fraudulent businesses have on residents, particularly older and more vulnerable members of our communities”.
“The victims in this case suffered significant financial losses and considerable distress after placing their trust in someone who deliberately set out to deceive them,” he said, commending the “dedication and professionalism” of the Trading Standards officers who brought Murnane to justice.
The council is reminding residents to take extra care when hiring tradespeople — and to report any suspicious activity to Trading Standards.
