A bogus builder who took nearly £200,000 from an elderly man for work he never carried out has been jailed for more than a year.
Ashley Challis, 24, conned the pensioner out of £192,000 over five months but wasn't caught until his victim was stopped and questioned while withdrawing huge amounts of cash from his local bank.
The branch manager of Lloyds TSB in Surbiton's Claremont Road called the police who arrived and spoke to the man, who "seemed confused," according to a Met spokesman.
When the bank manager told the detectives the man had taken out a six-figure sum in just five months to pay for building works they decided to take him home to find out whether the work had been completed.
In fact, nothing had been done and the man had fallen prey to a scam.
But when police tried to track down fraudster Challis they found he had vanished, sending detectives on a country-wide hunt.
"The investigation was complex," said the spokesman, "with a number of leads to follow up on all over the country, which took some time."
Challis was finally arrested in Leicestershire and charged with money laundering.
He admitted the offence and was jailed for 16 months on Thursday.
"The case shows strong determination from Kingston’s detectives investigating a complex matter," said the Met.
"It took a number of months to locate and deal with Challis."
The spokesman thanked Lloyds TSB and Leicestershire Police.
