Dodgy builder spared prison over shoddy and overpriced work in Portslade and Woodingdean

A dodgy roofer and builder who overcharged customers for poor quality work has been handed a two-year suspended prison sentence.

Mark Crist, also known as Marcus Crist, 27, of Winterbourne Lane, Lewes, faced nine charges of misleading consumers, aggressive practice and fraud at Lewes Crown Court on Friday 5 April.

Crist and his business partner Jack Murphy, trading as ABC Roofline, were the subject of complaints from residents in Woodingdean and Portslade in 2011 and 2012.

Murphy, of Otterden Street, Catford, was sentenced in November 2012 after he admitted six charges of misleading customers and fraud.

Crist did not attend court at the time and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was arrested in May last year and has appeared in court on a number of occasions since then, having pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

He subsequently changed his plea to one of guilty to all charges.

He was given a two-year prison sentence which was suspended for two years with a requirement that he carries out 200 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £3,487 compensation to one customer, £12,800 to another and court costs of £2,500.

The court also ordered that he be disqualified from being a director of any company for two years.

Brighton and Hove City Council Trading Standards Department began investigating the case after a resident in Foredown Drive, Portslade, reported problems with a kitchen fitted by Mr Crist’s company.

The kitchen had been sold on the doorstep for £9,817 and the customer was charged a further £1,920 for the ceiling to be refurbished.

A trading standards-approved electrician who checked the work said that it was well below the standard expected from a competent electrician.

A representative from Howdens kitchen supplies said that the kitchen was the most basic available and priced at about £1,500.

A further case emerged in Woodingdean. A carer looking after a resident in Cowley Drive called trading standards concerned that her client had asked her to help him apply for a loan of £6,000.

The money helped pay for a car port put up by ABC Roofline. The car port collapsed in high winds.

Another builder approved by trading standards inspected the work and reported that it was of poor quality and overpriced.

Evidence was also gathered from a chartered building surveyor who highlighted substantial faults in the design, execution and costs of both projects.

Councillor Pete West, the chairman of the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “The combined efforts of trading standards and the police have ensured other vulnerable residents will not be put at risk by this man’s objectionable business practices.”