Rogue Trader handed suspended jail sentence after victims left more than £200,000 out of pocket

A rogue trader who owned a home improvements company that used unfair and aggressive tactics in relation to four building projects worth over £200,000 has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Christopher William Sedgewick, aged 39, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court today (July 11) having pleaded guilty to seven unfair trading offences.

The Court heard that between February 2021 and January 2024, Sedgewick, trading as William Sedgewick Developments Limited, misled four customers into parting with vast amounts of money for deposits and ongoing building work.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Trading Standard's team found that Sedgewick's home improvement works had not been completed within or near the agreed timescales, that customers had paid more than the work done was worth or that prices had been increased mid-contract.

One couple paid over £63,000 to Sedgewick towards a single-storey extension which he continually delayed beyond the agreed initial timescale and what work was undertaken was not fit for purpose with numerous breaches of building regulations as well as remaining incomplete.

The defendant also used aggressive and threatening practices to ensure that the complainants continued to make payments to him despite the lack of progress on the build.

Another customer paid over £47,000 to Sedgewick towards a single-storey extension to enable wheelchair access for his wife who was suffering with Motor Neuron Disease.

However, such was the delay in the work, his wife sadly passed away before it was even close to completion causing "considerable stress" to her husband.

In the other cases, Sedgewick agreed to undertake work on ground floor remodelling structural work, and a garage extension and roof renovations, respectively.

But in all cases, work was delayed, left unfinished or was sub-standard leaving the homeowners involved being left with poor builds, impacting upon them financially and mentally.

Sedgewick was given a 44-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work, having pleaded guilty to seven unfair trading offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

In mitigation, Sedgewick, who was also ordered to pay just over £41,000 compensation to the victims, acknowledged that his communication skills could have been better, although he blamed adverse weather conditions, COVID and a family tragedy as reasons for not undertaking some of the work in the agreed timescales.

Councillor Norma Stephenson, the Council's Cabinet Member for Access, Communities and Community Safety, said: "The actions of Sedgewick in these four cases were truly abhorrent.

"He not only provided false hope with regards to the timeframe each respective job would take to complete, but Sedgewick also increased the prices of jobs midway and then used aggressive methods to extort money from customers via threatening emails.

"Sedgewick callously exploited his customers, including a terminally ill lady, to ease his own financial issues, while any work which did take place was described in one case as having 'serious deficiencies' by a building control inspector.

"This increased the stress and financial cost to his customers because they then had to pay another builder to finish the jobs and rectify all the errors in Sedgewick's work.

"I hope this outcome serves as a lesson to Sedgewick and as a warning to others that our Trading Standards team robustly investigate reports of unfair trading and who I would like to fully commend for all of their hard work in this particular case.

"Please obtain at least three quotes for any home improvement work, seek recommendations from friends and family, and do not hand over large sums of money upfront."