ONE of the victims of a Colwick salesman who conned £70,000 out of older and disabled people says she is pleased he has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Carl Nicholas Mould, 48, of Riverside Way was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday for ripping off the elderly by selling them mobility aids they did not need or taking their money for goods that were never delivered.
He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud and one count of attempted theft in May.
The court heard that Mould took payments for items which were not delivered, pressured vulnerable customers into purchasing goods that were not suitable for their needs, withheld money taken for orders which were cancelled and misled customers as to the true value of goods by offering false discounts for over-priced items.
The case involved 16 victims over an 18 month period.
The highest amount taken from an individual was £44,485 for a range of mobility aids including a whirlpool hot-tub.
Betty Mayger, 89, of Chesham in Buckinghamshire was visited by Mould in on September 2010.
She agreed to have her bathroom refitted with mobility products for a total of £3,350. She paid a deposit of £1,760. She was visited again in the October and was assured that the bathroom would be fitted before Christmas.
No goods were provided or fitted.
Mrs Mayger said: "I'm very happy he is going to prison for this. That was a great amount of money that I couldn't afford to lose. To be honest I think he deserved longer, maybe seven years, because this isn't the first time he did this sort of crime.
"But at least he will be behind bars for a while so won't be able to do it again."
Mould also mis-sold mattresses, sofas, stair lifts and mobility scooters under the guise of UK Mobility Plus and Britannia Homecare Solutions Ltd, which were both based in Epperstone.
In one case he posed as a doctor in order to obtain the trust of his victim.
He was previously sentenced to four months in jail in September 2012 for breaching the Consumer Protection for Unfair Trading Regulations on 26 occasions.
Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, chairman of the county council's Community Safety Committee, said: "We are pleased that Mould has received a substantial sentence for his crimes which have caused a great deal of misery for the people he targeted with this scam.
"He preyed on the most vulnerable sections of society, the elderly and disabled, to make his ill-gotten gains without a second thought for the wellbeing of his victims."
The East Midlands Scambusters Team – a regional unit funded by the National Trading Standards Board, which deals with large cases of fraud – worked alongside Trading Standards officers from Notts County Council on the case.
