Two bogus traders who terrorised Moray customers will have to wait another month to learn their fate after an address mix-up delayed sentencing at Elgin Sheriff Court.
Brothers Larry Connors, 19, and Jerry Connors, 25, pleaded guilty to a string of breaches of consumer regulation during April 2015 when they appeared at the court last month.
While working as Tayside Drives and Patios, Larry Connors refused to leave the home of frail Elgin pensioner Mary Brander until she paid the extortionate sum he demanded for work on her garden.
Ms Brander’s son-in-law eventually paid £3,200 but said he did so “out of concern for her safety”.
A subsequent investigation revealed Connors, of Brookside Meadows in Northampton, had greatly overestimated the value of the work and had defrauded his victim, who has since died, out of £2,200.
Meanwhile, Jerry Connors threatened a couple who refused to pay him for shoddy work carried out in Cullen.
The 25-year-old, of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, offered to tarmac Eva Bonarek’s driveway for £1,000 but her partner deemed the effort unsatisfactory and refused to pay.
The tradesman returned with some other workmen and smashed up the concrete work with sledgehammers.
Yesterday, the pair returned to the dock for sentencing but the court heard that an administrative error had stalled proceedings.
It emerged that letters had been posted to incorrect addresses, and a new date of Thursday, July 5, was arranged for sentencing.
