Rogue trader who cheated over £140,000 out of his victims including West Lindsey residents is jailed

A handyman who defrauded 23 victims across the East Midlands, including West Lindsey, has been jailed for over six years.
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William Bower, 44, of Tolney Lane, Newark on Trent, has a history dating back over 15 years of fraudulent activity resulting in three previous suspended sentences for fraud offences from 2007, 2009 and 2017.

Since then, William Bower continued to operate across Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, targeting elderly and vulnerable people who were looking for landscaping, gardening or property works.

He was overcharging, taking large, and sometimes several, deposits, encouraging them to agree to more, unnecessary work, and then actually doing little to nothing. The work he did complete was often substandard.

Bower was sentenced at Lincoln Crown CourtBower was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court
Bower was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court

Most of Mr Bower’s victims had sought tradespeople to carry out work at their properties through online trader marketplaces where users submit details of the job they need doing and take quotes from local businesses to carry out that work.

Using a wide variety of business names and versions of his own name, Bower managed to avoid negative reviews that might have come from customers he had swindled previously.

Alan Griffin, Lincolnshire Trading Standards officer, said: “When he was being interviewed under caution in September 2020, William ‘Billy’ Bower couldn’t even remember all of the business names he’d traded under, he had used that many.

“The original case against Mr Bower was a strong one, consisting of 13 charges all under the Fraud Act 2006. However, his day in court was put back numerous times due to claimed medical episodes preventing him from attending court, including heart attacks and a stroke.

“No medical evidence was provided to justify the delays. On one occasion, when it was claimed Mr Bower was in a vegetative state in hospital and so could not attend court, footage from the day before shows him walking up to the house of one of his previous victims.”

At Lincoln Crown Court on February 27, 2023, William Bower was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.

Further investigations have now begun for future hearings to discuss compensation for his victims.