A 22-year-old conman who carried out botched road and roof repair work during a three week spell touring the Highlands last Spring has been jailed for a year.
Frank Docherty fraudulently obtained £9,132 from five people, including three elderly, which was repaid by his father after police caught up with him.
Yesterday, Docherty of 20 Lochside Crescent, Montrose, appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after earlier admitting five charges of fraud and another of using aggressive language and behaviour to demand payment.
Sheriff David Sutherland deferred sentence for a background report and told the new father: “No sentence other than a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
After hearing that Docherty’s father had repaid the money, the Sheriff added: “If it had not been repaid, the sentence would have been considerably more.”
The Sheriff had been told that Docherty had been in Strathspey and Badenoch and Moray during the month of April 2015.
He had a vehicle and paperwork declaring he represented Tarstone Construction and charged up to 10 times what would have been the cost of a proper job.
Fiscal depute Fraser Matheson told how Docherty’s first victim was Archibald Slimon of Breakachy Farm, Laggan who was told that Docherty had spare chippings and bitumen he had to get rid of.
Victim number 2 was Jennifer Taylor of Kingussie who agreed to pay Docherty £800 for similar work which proved to be sub-standard.
He later demanded £2,400 but settled on £1,650, which the surveyor said was four times what should have been paid for a satisfactory outcome
Docherty’s third victim was 84 year old John Milne of Kincraig who had to pay £2550 for driveway work and moss removal from his roof, five times what the correct price for acceptable work.
Sheila Fraser, an 85-year-old of Tor Breac, Golf Course Road, Newtonmore was forced to pay Docherty £1,400 for roof moss removal – 10 times what it should have been – plus an additional £600 to repair her roof after he had finished.
Stanley Boys, a 79-year-old of 1 Brodie Place, Forres changed his mind about having Docherty remove moss from his roof. But Docherty became aggressive when Mr Boys wouldn’t pay for the materials on his truck.
His final victim was James Findlay of Whiterow House, Forres who was induced to pay £1,500 for non-professional work for filling in pot-holes – overpriced by three times, according to the surveyor.
