A BANK fraudster turned building contractor has been jailed for subjecting flood victims to years of hell.

Owen Danter was among mountain rescue team volunteers who helped evacuate people from Huntington Road and Tadcaster during the Boxing Day 2015 floods, Laura Addy, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

But when he returned to the York street to restore two of the flooded properties to an inhabitable state, his lies and cons cost the homeowners £100,000 between them.

York Press:

“The defendant presented as very plausible, very capable, he provided documentation and invoices and he presented himself as being organised and knew what he was doing,” said the barrister.

After months of deceit and not paying sub-contractors he employed and building items he ordered, Danter disappeared, leaving their homes in shambles and still uninhabitable.

The owners of the two houses had to employ other builders to redo some of the work and one house wasn’t finished until this summer, two and a half years after it was flooded, said Ms Addy for City of York Council trading standards.

Danter, 40, of Munstead Way, Welton, Brough, East Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of unfair trading and was jailed for two years.

He has previous convictions for stealing tens of thousands of pounds from an 86-year-old woman’s and other customers’ accounts when employed as a bank manager.

A judge will decide how much he must pay in compensation and asset confiscation in November.

For Danter, Peter Minnikin said he was a one-man band who had taken on more than he could handle and had had a mental breakdown as a result.

The money had not been spent on high living but on keeping his now defunct company going.

Danter has since set up a new business with contracts into next year through which he could repay the homeowners.

Ms Addy said when one homeowner suggested paying for a new kitchen direct to the suppliers rather than via Danter, “the defendant said it would be better financially to go through him.”

He also persuaded one of the victims to hand over enough money to pay for kitchens for both houses.

He got one homeowner to pay £35,000 and the other £14,400 for services and supplies that never arrived. The first lost £83,500 in total including the costs of correcting Danter’s work and the other just under £20,000.