Pay up or I’ll send the boys round, couple told
A 68-year-old man threatened to make a couple’s lives “a nightmare” over a £5,100 bill owed to his son for building work, a court heard.
Mervyn Moorcroft, 68, of Church Lane, Alpheton, admitted using threatening and abusive behaviour on October 10 towards Michael and Lynda Williams.
Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court heard on Friday that Mr and Mrs Williams agreed a price with the building firm owned by Moorcroft’s son, Jason, to build a cartlodge at their home.
Lesla Small, prosecuting, said: “There is alleged to be an outstanding amount of £5,100 for work carried out.”
Mr and Mrs Williams came home at around 5.45pm to find Moorcroft on their driveway.
“There was a heated verbal exchange and Mr Moorcroft made threats towards the pair to have two men attend the address and cause damage,” said Miss Small.
“He said he would make it his job to make their lives a nightmare by returning to their address until they had paid.”
Mrs Williams told police that Moorcroft said he would follow the couple around for years, which left her shocked and frightened for her and her husband’s safety,
But in mitigation, Moorcroft claimed the pair had found fault “with every little thing”, leading to more work and materials than priced for and making his and his son’s life a misery.
“Mr Williams is a conman, a liar and a thief,” he said. “He stole £5,100 of our money.”
He said plans for the cartlodge in Lawshall had to be repeatedly redrawn.
“He [Mr Williams] made our lives a misery for the last two or three weeks.
“He found fault with every little thing and when the job was finished we went back four times to do extra work just to keep him sweet,” said Moorcroft.
He added that Mr Williams had responded to his son’s request for payment by saying “I’ll see you in court”.
“He asked for it. You can’t go around employing people and catching them out at the end of the job,” he said.
“We are just resigned to losing our money and taking the punishment we have to take,” he added.
Moorcroft was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs.
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Tuesday 21 May 2013
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