TWO "ruthless" cowboy roofers preyed on the elderly and vulnerable and persuaded them to hand over cash, a court heard.

The fraudsters' victims were aged 86 and 70, said Richard Bennett, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

Conmen Michael Henry Smith, 23, and Gerald Johnson, 28, from the Selby area, cold called householders and persuaded them to hand over money in advance for roof repairs they never did or only did a little bit of to a poor standard.

The oldest victim, who lived in Carlton south of Selby, the same town as Johnston, handed over £2,450 to Smith. Altogether the pair got away with £7,100. A mother who lived in Barlby near Selby, was so affected by being scammed, she said in a victim personal statement it had affected her psychologically.

“I don’t know how he can live with himself,” she wrote about Smith. “What will stop him doing this to someone else?”

Recorder Nicholas Barker said the pair had targeted their victims.

“They have had a deep lasting impact upon them because of your greed and your ruthlessness in wanting to extract money from them,” he told them.

Smith, of New Acres, Drax, who conned the 86-year-old and the Barlby mother, a 70-year-old in Grimsby and people in Lincoln and Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and Johnston, of Carlton Caravan Site, Carlton, who conned the 70-year-old and people in Grimsby and Lincoln, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

Smith was given a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 220 hours’ unpaid work and Johnston was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 200 hours’ unpaid work. Both were also ordered to do a three-month nightly curfew from 8pm to 6am and will have their assets confiscated at a later date.

For Smith, Keith Whitehouse said he was remorseful and had had financial problems.

For Johnston, Sunil Khanna said he had had problems since he was involved in a fatal car crash and needed to support his family.

Speaking after the case, Cllr Andrew Lee, North Yorkshire County Council executive member for trading standards, said: “We will not tolerate the detriment this causes to our residents, particularly those who are vulnerable and elderly, or to the legitimate trade sector who lose out to those who defraud customers.”