Cowboy trader who scammed victims out of thousands jailed

Work to transform the gardens of five families was never carried out during the pandemic, despite Oliver Booth collecting deposits in the thousands up front from his unknowing customers.

Booth, of Southworth Avenue, Bewsey, even donated some of the embezzled money towards a charity Christmas lights donation made to St Rocco’s, the same year the offences took place.

 Thomas McLoughlin, prosecuting, highlighted the facts of the case, informing Chester Crown Court on Tuesday that the 42-year-old was working as a groundsman during 2021.

On each of the five offences, he had requested between three and five per cent deposits be paid up front by customers to cover costs for materials prior to gardening work being carried out.

 The first victim, from Sefton, encountered Booth in February 2021 when he reached out to him to carry out some work on his property.

“He sent a three per cent deposit and sent the remaining 47 per cent, totalling to the amount of £7,850.10,” Mr McLoughlin explained.

The defendant contacted his customer shortly after to explain that his partner had had a miscarriage recently and that there would be a delay in the work being done.

It was heard that the couple were understanding about this and gave him an extension on the time originally agreed to do the work by – but this transpired to no work being done as the date for completion continued to be pushed back.

“He said his wife and children were in a car crash,” the prosecutor detailed as another excuse made by Booth for the delays.

The pair began to grow suspicious of his behaviour and did some digging, eventually finding out that no purchase had been made for materials from the money that was already paid upfront.

A victim statement read out to the courts detailed how Booth’s actions had made his victim’s lives ‘extremely stressful’.

They said: “We essentially had £8,000 stolen from us. This added more stress in the lead up to our wedding. It was the summer from hell.”

The next offence took place between March and June 2021. A customer, from Runcorn, again reached out to the defendant having seen good reviews online of his gardening services.

Similarly, it was agreed that gardening work be carried out, with a three percent deposit paid of £744. This work did not commence on the agreed date of March 29.

Booth did however attend the customers Runcorn property on April 29 to do some ‘light groundwork’. But further work was not achieved from that point onwards.

After having no work done and no promise of a refund from Booth, the victim posted his experience on a Facebook community page, it was heard, and the defendant reacted to this by calling the customer and ‘threatening to take materials back’.

Booth refused to provide a refund and told the man that he was suffering with his mental health, sending him a picture of a slit wrist which he claimed to be his own.

Losses amounted to the cost of £4,744 for this victim.

In a victim statement, the man said: “We wanted to improve the garden for our grandchildren. We told him that we had previous issues with a builder who did not complete the work.

“It has brought a huge amount of stress on our marriage, and I would not wish this on anyone.”

Detailing the third offence, another victim was lured into Booth’s trap, innocently wanting some garden work completed at her Runcorn home.

The offender provided the customer with a quote and requested an upfront deposit of £5,020 which was paid on March 7, 2021.

Work was due to take place on June 20 but did not commence as planned.

 Throughout May in the lead up to the job being carried out, the victim attempted to contact the defendant on 100 different occasions over the phone.

“The defendant said he had poor mental health and couldn’t carry out the work. To minimise their loss, the victim offered the defendant a payment plan to pay them back, but he did not go through with this.”

Again, after digging, the defendant was found to have not had purchased any of the materials for the job as promised.

“Our dream garden that we wanted to enjoy our time in was taken from us by a fraudster,” the victim said in an impact statement.

“We found out that whilst we were chasing him for money, he was taking it from others at the same time.”

Another individual fell victim to the fraudster back in March 2021. The man, from Runcorn, had also seen positive reviews online about Booth and his gardening business and booked him for some work to be done on his home.

He paid a deposit up front of £5079.91. This money he would never see again, along with Booth, who contacted his client to explain he would be delayed in doing the work due to his wife’s miscarriage.

When asked if he would refund the money, the cowboy trader refused.

“Hurt and betrayed are some of the feelings I have gone through,” the victim explained in his statement.

“I get the strong feeling Oliver is laughing behind our backs.”

The last offence took place between July 14 and 16, 2021, when the defendant was approached by another customer from Warrington who requested Booth create a memorial garden in his back yard for his mother who had recently died.

A deposit of £4,443.05 was paid to the defendant, money which the victim detailed was used from his mother’s inheritance.

However, the work was never done, with the defendant claiming to have had ‘problems with machinery’ at the time.

The victim stated: “Every time I go into the back yard, I am reminded of what should be there.”

Police officers attended the defendant’s address and Booth was arrested on December 9, 2022.

After inspecting various devices belonging to the defendant, they found he had been embezzling all of his fraudulent earnings into a cryptocurrency portfolio.

During a police interview, Booth admitted that the earnings he made from the cryptocurrency he was using to purchase alcohol and drugs with.

The total amount of funds stolen from all five victims amounted to £27,544.24.

Defending, Jeremy Rawson said his client is married and lives with three children. He added that he has problems with his mental health but is a ‘family man’.

Judge hits out

Concluding the hearing, Honour Judge Simon Berkson first addressed the defendant.

“There are five victims of your fraudulent behaviour. Each of these five people had premises' and gardens that you said you would be able to enhance.

“You took large sums of money running in the thousands of pounds. Each of these victims had plans for this work but none of these plans came to fruition.

“That money went into cryptocurrency by way of investments. That currency was then used by you to buy drugs and alcohol. They are victims of your crimes.

“There is no doubt that each of these victims were defrauded. They were defrauded over a sustained period of time.”

Booth was handed an immediate jail sentence of 16 months, of which he will serve half of before being released on licence.

A proceeds of crime act schedule was confirmed by Judge Berkson, to organise for compensation to be paid to the victims involved.