'Heartless' Bacup fraudster who 'showed no mercy' is jailed

One of the 'most prolific' fraudsters that Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards have brought to justice has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Patrick Damien Hartley, 51, from Weir in Bacup targeted 13 households across the North West, including Rawtenstall and Bacup in Lancashire, taking almost £700,000 from customers and leaving a trail of devastation calculated to be about £1 Million,  before declaring himself bankrupt.

The defendant, known as Paddy, repeatedly failed to carry out work that he had charged the consumers tens of thousands for, or carried out substandard work that the homeowners had to shell out thousands to fix.

Amongst his victims was a woman from Rawtenstall, who had previously been scammed by a different builder who ran off with a £12,000 deposit without doing any work.

Describing himself as her 'knight in shining armour', Hartley agreed in January 2021 to build her a double-storey extension.

She gave him £59,406 but hardly any of the work was completed. He offered to repay her £12,000 a month but after she received just £3,250, he was declared bankrupt.

Two years after work started, the property remains uninhabitable. She has borrowed nearly £80,000 to get the job finished.

More victims included a couple in Bacup who were left devastated when their plans to take in an elderly relative and provide her with end-of-life care went wrong when Hartley failed to complete an extension for her.

The homeowner's mother was gravely ill when the couple accepted Hartley's quote of £74,000, to build a two-storey extension and driveway.

Despite spending £55,800, only around 13% of the work planned was carried out.

The homeowner's mother spent her final days in the front room of the property, which had no heating or hot water.

The couple had to take out a further £30,000 loan to complete the build themselves.

Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards' prosecution against Hartley was supported by Trading Standards colleagues in Greater Manchester and Lancashire and Greater Manchester Police.

At Preston Crown Court on 28 August 2026, Hartley was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment for offences contrary to the Fraud Act 2006 and consumer protection regulations.

Councillor Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities said: "Patrick Hartley is one of the most prolific, heartless fraudsters that we have come across and could well be the most serious example of rogue trading that Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards has ever prosecuted.

"He deliberately preyed on consumers at some of their most vulnerable moments – especially for the victims that he cherry-picked in Bacup and Rawtenstall.

"He showed them no mercy and left them tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

"For the couple in Bacup, he cost them the chance to make a much-loved family member's last few months easier. His behaviour was despicable."