• Gary Roberts accepted payments from a customer for a home extension in Cheshire which he should have known he was not going to be able to fulfil 

• Roberts persuaded his victim to pay £17,000 but left a large section of the rear of her house knocked down, with rubble in the garden 

• His company, GR Developments 1 Ltd, was in financial difficulties at the time, which Roberts knew as he sought professional advice on placing the company into liquidation just weeks later 

• Roberts also transferred more than £11,000 of company money to his own personal bank account 

A Cheshire builder who left a woman with a gaping hole where her kitchen once stood has been handed a suspended jail sentence. 

Gary Roberts told the victim to pay more than £17,000 for new windows and a rear extension in 2021 which he never completed. 

The 60-year-old also paid himself more than £11,000 in funds from his GR Developments 1 Ltd company at the time it was entering liquidation. 

Roberts, of Old Spot Way, Winsford, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Monday 31 March. 

He was also ordered to complete 20 days of community rehabilitation activity, pay £1,000 in costs, and a £154 surcharge. 

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Gary Roberts left his victim in a state of utter desperation after wrecking her home. He never should have even signed a contract with her, as he knew his company was in financial trouble.

The back of the victim’s house was completely exposed to the elements, having been knocked down from the kitchen. Roberts and his company also left a huge mess in her garden, with debris and rubble everywhere.

Protecting the public from rogue traders such as Roberts is something the Insolvency Service takes extremely seriously. Fraudulent behaviour which causes clear financial harm to innocent people will be thoroughly investigated by the agency.

Roberts signed a contract with his customer at the start of May 2021, promising to complete an extension to the rear of her property. 

Within one week, the victim had paid Roberts £10,000 as a deposit. A further payment of £7,000 was made at the end of June in that year. 

However Roberts never finished the project. The victim completed her extension in April 2022 after employing other tradesmen and lost out on the £17,000 she had handed over to Roberts. 

In May 2021, just weeks after signing the contract with his victim, Roberts received advice from professionals about placing GR Developments into liquidation. 

He also paid himself £11,513 in company money during May and July 2021 when he knew that GR Developments was insolvent. 

GR Developments was eventually dissolved in January 2023. 

Roberts was subsequently banned as a company director for 10 years for his misconduct at GR Developments, with the disqualification in place until February 2034. He was also ordered to pay his victim more than £10,000 in compensation.

Further information 

• Gary Roberts is of Old Spot Way, Winsford, Cheshire. His date of birth is 16 July 1964 

• Sentenced for: fraudulently removing property in anticipation of the winding-up of a company, contrary to section 206 of the Insolvency Act 1986 

• GR Developments 1 Ltd (company number 12321037) 

• Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct