Brazen crook slammed after conning dozens out of sheds
Clever crook Alistair Baxter took thousands of pounds for the work from almost 70 people, including pensioners in their seventies.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said he took orders and banked large deposits from punters across several areas in Scotland, including Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.
However, the crook then failed to carry out any work, leaving his victims out of pocket.
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Baxter, described as a self-employed joiner and the owner of Falkirk-based AB Garden Building Ltd, was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday, May 7, after pleading guilty to fraud.
The 36-year-old has now been locked up for three years and four months.
After being sentenced, Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central, and Fife, slammed Baxter.
She said: 'This was a clear case of deception and an egregious breach of trust by Alistair Baxter.
'He took significant sums of cash from people who paid him to do work and then brazenly refused to do the work or return their deposits.
'It was an appalling course of behaviour and he has now been held to account for his crimes.'
The COPFS said Baxter, who advertised his business on social media, carried out his offending between September 2020 and March 2024.
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In June 2022, a 68-year-old woman paid £4,150 as a deposit after Baxter quoted £5,900 to build a summerhouse.
In September of that year, Baxter told her the job would not be carried out until the full £1,800 balance had been paid.
The money was transferred, however, the work was never carried out, and no refund was issued.
Meanwhile, in September 2023, a 74-year-old woman paid a £1,250 deposit for a summerhouse, but the work was never started.
She was later falsely told by Baxter that the money had been refunded into her bank account.
Some victims received deliveries of materials, but no construction work ever took place.
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