HE conned a string of farmers across North and East Yorkshire by pocketing their cash for work which was never done – but now a rogue trader’s scam has caught up with him.

Matthew Moss, also known as Matthew Winter, has been ordered to pay back more than £37,000 to those who trusted him enough to hand over their money because they believed he was carrying out tarmac work for local councils.

But in reality, Moss was orchestrating a cold-calling scam which saw him take the payments and make promises to return which were never kept.

Now Moss has been given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after North Yorkshire County Council’s trading standards teams were called in to investigate his dodgy dealings.

York Crown Court heard Moss, of Hinckley Road, Leicester, worked his way from Northumberland through North Yorkshire and on to East Yorkshire, as he and his employees cold-called at farms offering to deliver, lay and roll large amounts of road planings or crushed concrete for free, as long as they bought quantities of tarmac from him.

In some cases, Moss also told his targets he was working on local roads or for highways departments, took their payment and guaranteed the work would be done within a day, with the planings or concrete being delivered soon afterwards – but the materials never arrived.

The court heard Moss ran his scam between June and September 2007 as he pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, imposed the year-long suspended sentence to run concurrently for each of the seven charges Moss faced and also ordered him to do 300 hours unpaid work – the maximum amount of time which can be imposed in such a punishment.

He also demanded that Moss pay his victims a total of £37,344.75 as well as costs of £4,619 to the council. “This case should send a message to rogues that we will not tolerate behaviour which cons any of our residents, regardless of whether they are consumers or businesses,” said Coun Clare Wood, the council’s executive member for trading standards and regulatory services. “It should also act as a reminder to businesses that they should be just as cautious in their dealings with doorstep callers as consumers.

“Our advice is not to deal with anybody who cold calls, but to obtain three quotations for any work from traders you know you will be able to contact again if any problems arise.”

Any business or consumer with concerns about work done or any cold calls should phone Consumer Direct on 0845 404 0506.