A ROGUE builder who targeted pensioners has avoided jail.

James Brown made cold calls across north Essex in a bid to get building work.

One pensioner, aged 90, paid Brown more than £40,000 for work to his Alresford home, but a court heard surveyors later estimated the work was worth just £25,000.

Most of Brown’s calls were made to elderly and vulnerable people.

One customer was left so scared of Brown, he hid a note to his nephew at his home. It said if anything happened to him, it would be Brown’s fault.

Brown admitted 13 charges brought by Essex Trading Standards when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Most of the charges related to cancellation of work notices.

Under business rules, cold callers must provide notices for customers in case they want to change their minds about having work done on their homes.

Brown, 41, of Oak Road, Tiptree, did not do this, the court heard.

He was jailed for 12 months, suspended for two years and told to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC told Brown the unpaid work would help pay for his “lamentable failure to comply with the law”.

Alison Lambert, prosecuting, said Brown would knock on people’s doors and tell them about work he thought needed done to their homes.

Brown’s barrister, Cyrus Shroff, said Brown was making significant changes to the way he ran his business.

Mr Shroff also said Brown had not been convicted of overcharging his customers.

A compensation hearing and a decision on how much of the prosecution’s £16,800 costs Brown may have to pay will be held in the summer.