He charmed family to get £2,000 but then became a ‘rogue nightmare’

Michael Wood was sentenced today after pleading guilty to five charges under fraud laws and regulations to protect consumers from unfair trading

A “rogue builder” who “charmed” a family with promises to renovate their home has been convicted of fraud and ordered to pay thousands of pounds. One of his victims told a Liverpool court she had been pushed into a state of depression by the situation.

Appearing in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, December 10, Michael Wood, of Rugby Way, Wimborne, Dorset, was sentenced after pleading guilty to five charges under fraud laws and regulations to protect consumers from unfair trading. This was after he took a £2,000 deposit from his victims and did not pay it back despite doing little work.

In 2022, he had presented his victims Katie Pink and her mum Sylvia Hemmings of Darlington Close, Wallasey, with an invoice from NW Development Solutions Ltd, a company he used to work for but no longer had any involvement with. The case was brought by Wirral Council’s trading standards team.

Ben Birkson, the barrister representing Wirral Council, said Ms Pink had been looking to extend her home in 2015 but this was not finished by the previous builders after the structure was found to not comply with regulations. The extension was to give the family more space by adding a third bedroom and a family dining room to the home.

Years later, Wood, 37, was passed onto his victims by someone else working in the trade and met them at the home in October 2022. Mr Birkson said at this meeting Wood was “charming and spoke of his experience in the trade”, adding: “They felt reassured that the work would be done.”

The work was quoted at being £7,590 with a £2,000 deposit. However Mr Birkson said the work was never finished and excuses were made blaming Wirral Council, the weather, and claims at one stage Wood had cancer.

In April 2023, Ms Hemmings asked to cancel the contract and Wood promised to repay the deposit, but this never happened. At one point, the court was told he blocked Ms Pink’s number.

The case was referred to the council’s Trading Standards team who picked it up. The court also heard Wood had previously been convicted of six offences under fraud and unfair trading regulations..

The Wirral Globe reported at the time Wood was ordered to pay £9,000 following a Trading Standards fraud investigation. He was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years in 2018.

Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard Wood had 21 previous convictions. These included multiple breaches of restraining and non-molestation orders and his most recent conviction was in 2025 for breach of an order in Bournemouth where he was handed a 20 month suspended sentence for 24 months, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work, an alcohol tag, and a GPS monitor.

Paul Davison of DFD, defending Wood, said the recent Crown Court sentence had been suspended, that the defendant “does have issues” pointing to the alcohol tag, and if he was released, he would be able to pay back the compensation much sooner. He said Wood hoped to go back into work, adding: “He is going to go back down south so there is no sign he will engage with the victims again.”

The court heard a statement from Ms Hemmings that the money “was meant to go towards essential work for her grown up daughter to help her to have a proper space of her own” which would give her “the safe and private space she needed”, adding the situation had had a severe mental toll on both mum and daughter.

The mum said she had been worried for her daughter’s welfare, adding: “The loss of the deposit has not only caused a financial strain but ongoing emotional hardship for our family.”

Ms Pink said the living situation meant she was forced to share a space with her own daughter which “strained our relationship and led to her moving out and living with her father”.

She said the situation has “pushed me into a state of depression and I have since had to seek medical help,” adding the family had to consider moving out despite the home being the place of “cherished memories of my son who was five months old”.

In coming to his decision, district judge Paul Healey said the victims “wanted a reputable reliable person to carry out the work” but “it soon became very apparent you were not who you claimed to be”. He described Wood as acting “as a rogue trader”.

He said: “It really was a nightmare type of experience. Previous experiences started to play out again”, adding: “I have got to have regard to the harm you have caused to the victims.”

Judge Healey said Wood had “a very significant record of previous offending” and despite a number of years since the previous fraud convictions, he argued they were very similar offences to the current charges being considered.

He said: “I do think the previous offending is a significant aggravating factor. I have considered if there are any mitigating factors. I am struggling to find any mitigating factors.”

The judge said Wood’s “behaviour is appalling for a number of reasons” and had sympathy for Wood’s victims, but said he would be suspending the sentence. Wood was sentenced to 48 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

Wood was also ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation to the victims as well as £4,000 in costs to Wirral Council. The local authority said it had estimated costs of £14,450 related to the case.

The defendant was also told to pay a £187 victim surcharge and sentenced to a further 100 hours of unpaid work. This means Wood will now have to contirbute the maximum 300 hours of free labour when taking into account his other recent sentence.