A builder has been jailed after he tried to sue a man whose house he had wrecked.
Lee Fernhead, 45, of Budapest, was jailed for three years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court for trying to pervert the course of justice.
Fernhead was taken on to do building work at the home of Brian Roche, 52, of the North West, in 2005 and a cost was agreed before the Roche family moved out while the work was done.
Mr Roche became concerned that the work didn’t seem to be progressing and as the months went by the completion date was no nearer leading to Mr Roche eventually paying off Fernhead.
Fernhead’s work was condemned by various utility companies and Mr Roche was forced to bring other tradesmen to put things right but by now the property was uninhabitable.
When Roche returned to the property on a visit check, he found a county court summons claiming he owed Fernhead £26,500 which Roche then contested, insisting Fernhead had been paid in full and the documentation supplied by Fernhead to prove his case had been forged.
An independent computer expert was brought in to examine the documentation on Fernhead’s computer where the expert copied relevant material to two memory sticks that were sent to Fernhead, who was then back in Budapest, but on their return to England, the material was found to have been corrupted.
Camera shots taken by the expert confirmed that much of Fernhead’s documentation had been forged and so Fernhead dropped the civil case however by this time the County Court judge was concerned and asked the police to investigate possible fraud offences.
Fernhead was eventually charged and despite initially denying the charges eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced.
Gary Simpson, Senior Crown Prosecutor with Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said Fernhead had sought to use the civil justice system to obtain money he wasn’t entitled to.
"When Mr Roche defended this claim, Fernhead resorted to making false documents on his computer and creating bogus invoices from building merchants to back up his figures and serving them on the court,” continued Gary.
"The County Court judge was so concerned about how he'd tried to manipulate the court that he prompted the criminal investigation.
“This ultimately led to a fraudster being convicted and sent to prison."
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