A COWBOY builder is back in jail because he tried to trade again just weeks after being released from prison.

Donovan Ross Morley-Clough yesterday admitted breaching an antisocial behaviour order that banned him from the roofing work through which he conned disabled pensioners out of thousands of pounds.

But the 24-year-old, of Leeds Road, Selby, denied a charge of damaging a roof tile at the property he targeted on March 16.

Morley-Clough was sentenced to six months in prison at York Crown Court where the judge warned the ASBO stayed in place to stop him going back to his “old ways”.

Robert Galley, prosecuting, outlined how Morley-Clough had been jailed for four years in 2013 for a series of deceptions in York, Selby and Wetherby while working as a roofer.

He was released from prison on February 25 this year.

Having set himself up with a gutter cleaning business, he gained work at the home of a 79-year-old woman in Selby on March 16.

Here Morley-Clough reported a cracked roof tile and said he could get it replaced “at no extra cost”.

The elderly lady became suspicious about Morley-Clough and called the police, who arrested him on March 18.

Mark McKone, mitigating, said: “He took legal advice as to whether work in clearing out gutters would breach the antisocial behaviour order.

“This is not absolutely black and white as to whether he was providing roofing services. The defendant has recognised that being self-employed has brought him into difficulty and now has an interview for a job as a packer.”

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said: “That was a long sentence for someone your age, but it was passed because you have been involved in a series of deceptions, particularly on elderly people in the Selby area.

“I don’t ignore the fact that this new offence came very soon after your release.

“That ten-year antisocial behaviour order remains in force.

“It is designed to stop you going back to your old ways.

“If you break the antisocial behaviour order again, any sentence in court will be longer.”

The charge of damaging a roof tile will remain on file.