Salisbury man jailed after tricking Dorset man out of £36,000
Daniel Lee Coker will spend over six years behind bars
A man from Salisbury has been jailed after being convicted of duping a Dorset man out of £36,000.
Daniel Lee Coker was part of a gang of rogue traders who targeted an elderly man in Dorchester in November 2022.
The victim was cold-called by a man calling himself "Dan", claiming two neighbours had hired him to cut hedges and had recommended he approach the victim too.
The man agreed to the work, but the trader was unable to provide the legally required cancellation rights, something that's key for protecting consumers with doorstep contracts.
Coker and his accomplice carried out minimal work before demanding £1,600 in cash. Across the subsequent few days, the men returned repeatedly, misleading their victim with aggressive tactics to push unnecessary work, claiming trees were dangerous and diseased, insisting urgent action was needed.
Anxious about safety risks, the victim made a series of payments in cash and cheque, totalling £36,500, but an expert working for Trading Standards later valued the legitimate work at £3,500.
The gang also left sections of the garden in poor state.
Coker will spend six years and seven months behind bars and was described by the judge as "an experienced offender", as he was on bail for other matters at the time.
In a statement read to the court, the victim said “It has been 2 years since the men targeted me and I still remember those two weeks very well, and parts of it still haunt me. The actions of Daniel Coker and his accomplices have had a distinct impact on my quality of life.
"These men left my garden in a terrible mess. I am still concerned about the state of it today. Every morning when I wake up, I think of what these men did and just hope that nothing similar ever happens to me or anyone like me again, and I am fearful of being targeted again.”