' Despicable and horrible'' conman scammed West Lothian OAP over home improvement work

A callous workman who conned a 77-year-old woman out of cash after promising to carry out work on her home has been jailed.

Callous Armstrong was branded 'despicable' by his own defence solicitor.

Edward Armstrong was employed by the pensioner to paint brickwork and window sills on her property in Bathgate, West Lothian.

But after pocketing £250 from the woman for supplies the devious roofer and painter - who runs Armstrong Property Care Ltd - failed to return to complete the work

Armstrong then carried out a similar scam on an Edinburgh couple when he walked off with more than £2000 without finishing the job he was paid to do.

The 29-year-old conman was paid twice in error by the homeowners and after receiving the cash he failed to returned to finish the work.

Both incidents which were described as “despicable and horrible” were reported to the police and Armstrong was eventually traced and arrested.

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Armstrong admitted obtaining £250 by fraud from a woman in Bathgate when he appeared by video link from the city’s Saughton Prison.

The father-of-five, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, also pleaded guilty to obtaining £2200 by fraud from a couple in Edinburgh between February 16 and April 16 last year,.

Sheriff Daniel Kelly described the crimes as “despicable” and jailed Armstrong for 20 months.

Fiscal depute Sophie Hanlon told the court Armstrong approached the elderly woman around 11.30am on July 8, 2019 and “offered to carry out” work on her home.

Ms Hanlon said the woman handed over £250 to Armstrong who left five minutes after she had.

The court heard the second incident took place when the householder placed an advert for her roof to be re-felted on the website My Job Quote and Armstrong replied almost immediately.

He turned up at the property at the capital’s Prestonfield at around 4.30pm on February 21 last year.

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Ms Hanlon said Armstrong quoted £1100 for the job and the work was said to have “began right away”.

The court heard the householders both handed over £1100 after confusion about a bank transfer.

Armstrong then left to buy materials but after “several attempts to contact him” the following day he never returned.

Solicitor David Allan, defending, admitted Armstrong’s offences were ‘despicable and horrible’.

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