Garden business scammers sentenced to prison for defrauding homeowner with £128,000 bill

Judge Falk sentenced Luke Ockenden and Peter Tannahill to 36 months and 42 months respectively, remarking that this was “a high culpability fraud carried over a significant period of time” and the victim was “drained of her life savings.”

Tannahill received more time due to his attempts to get the victim to add him to her will as a beneficiary. In relation to Ockenden the Judge noted that his offending was “aggravated by implied threats of violence” and that he had “shown no remorse”.

Ockenden and Tannahill, trading under the name ‘Luke's Tree and Landscapes,’ were initially hired to remove a tree from a home in Islington for a quoted price of £300.

However, through relentless pressure and harassment they coerced the homeowner into undertaking various building works, including lead replacement, brickwork sealing, exterior house painting and interior plastering.

The duo eventually harassed the homeowner into paying £128,650 for unnecessary or shoddy building work during January to March 2021.

Islington Council’s Trading Standards team launched an investigation after the victim was advised to get in touch with them by the police.

An expert surveyor's report revealed had the work carried out by Ockenden and Tannahill been done to a satisfactory standard, its value would have been an average of approximately £35,500. In reality, however, the work was assessed to have a value of merely £12,000, indicating that most of it was either poorly executed or not performed at all.

The Council’s Trading Standards and Legal Services Teams led a prosecution and on August 9, 2023, at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Ockenden, 27 of Yateley, and Tannahill, 41, of Leacroft, Staines-upon-Thames, were sentenced after having pleaded guilty in a previous hearing to fraud by false representation (s1 Fraud Act 2006) for their involvement in a fraudulent scheme targeting a vulnerable homeowner. The judge thanked Islington Council’s investigation officer for “a thorough investigation in what was clearly a difficult case”.

Cllr John Woolf, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Community Safety, said: "We want to make sure every person in Islington has a safe place to call home, as we work to build a more equal future for us all.

“In this very upsetting case, one of our residents was harassed and defrauded in their own home, where they should have been able to feel safe.

“Thanks to our Trading Standards and Legal Services teams, action has been taken and the culprits have faced justice. We will take similar tough action against anyone who comes to our borough and rips off our residents like this.

“Islington Council remains steadfast in its commitment to protect the welfare and safety of our community. Our Trading Standards team is here to support and assist anyone who feels they may have been a victim of fraud. We are on your side.”

Sentencing Details:
- Luke Ockenden: 36 months imprisonment
- Peter Tannahill: 42 months imprisonment

As part of the sentencing process, Islington will be asking the court to award compensation to the victim to alleviate the financial losses incurred during the scam.

Islington Council's Trading Standards team encourages anyone who suspects fraudulent activity or feels they have been a victim of a scam by a trader to report the matter to them via the national Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133.

For further information and tips on fraud prevention, please visit https://www.islington.gov.uk/advice/consumer-advice or contact Islington Council's Trading Standards team.