Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east man conned elderly woman out of nearly £6,000

Alan Shaw leaving Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Alan Shaw leaving Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

A workman who conned a pensioner out of nearly £6,000 has been spared jail.

Alan Shaw repeatedly turned up at Elma Thomson’s home and told her he had carried out roofing work which she needed to pay him for.

Ms Thomson, who lives in a council house in Montrose, never requested any work but paid Shaw on several occasions.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Shaw was generally quite friendly to the 89-year-old, but on one occasion threatened to remove the tiles from the roof if she did not pay up.

The fraudster obtained £3,900 in cash and a cheque for £2,000, which he paid into the TSB in Montrose – telling the cashier he had received the cheque from his grandmother.

But the cashier knew Ms Thomson had no living relatives, and raised the alarm.

Aberdeenshire Council – which maintains the property – began investigating, and discovered no work had been carried out.

Yesterday, 32-year-old Shaw appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentencing after previously admitted defrauding Ms Thomson between July 2016 and January 2017.

His defence lawyer Norman Fraser said Shaw had been working for a company who he initially believed had carried out the work, but then later realised he was part of a scam.

He added that his client was in full time employment where he was “well thought of” and he would be willing to pay compensation at a rate of £300 per month if he was spared jail.

Sheriff Sukwinder Gill considered fixing a proof of mitigation to look into the claims made by Shaw, but decided not to put his victim through the ordeal.

Imposing a sentence she said: “This is an extremely serious offence, you picked on the most vulnerable member of the community, an 88-year-old woman.

“That is shameful behaviour and a despicable thing to do to someone of that age.”

She made Shaw, of Insch Terrace in Montrose, subject to supervision for two years, ordered him to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work and to repay £3,900 in compensation.

Last night, an Aberdeenshire Council spokesman urged residents not to give work, or money, to coldcallers.