A “FAILED builder” admitted fitting an unsafe gas boiler at a pensioner’s bungalow.

Self-employed Jason Sapsford, 41, was asked to fit a new boiler at Ivy Homan’s home in Wyndham Crescent, Clacton.

But Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard the botched work could have posed a danger to life or the property.

He was fined £2,000 after he admitted not being competent to carry out the work and not being listed on the Gas Safe register.

Paul Grover, prosecuting, said Sapsford carried out the work in June 2012, after a neighbour suggested him to Mrs Homan.

He visited the home days prior to starting the work and assured Mrs Homan, aged in her 70s, he was capable of the job, which would cost her £2,180.

Copper piping was removed and replaced with plastic piping, but no attempt was made to install a thermostat and holes were left in the wall where the old system was removed, the court heard.

The “inlet pressure” on the new boiler was set too low, which can prevent gas combusting properly.

That winter the boiler broke down and a British Gas engineer declared the work Sapsford had carried out was “at risk”.

Problems included leaking plastic pipes and the flue was incorrectly positioned.

Gas supply to the property failed twice more in 2013 and Gas Safe declared there were serious faults with the installation, which could cause a danger to life or property.

Mark Gatley, mitigating, said Sapsford accepted he made a “dreadful mess” of the work and he had come to the conclusion he was a “failed builder” who had left the trade.

Sapsford, of Woodfield Drive, East Barnet, was ordered to pay £1,000 for each of the two health and safety breaches, £2,285 for the cost of replacing the boiler plus £2,250 prosecution costs.