A rogue builder fleeced hundreds of thousands of pounds from elderly victims by conning them into carrying out unnecessary work.

A court heard Hughie Smith, 49, went to his victims’s homes and intimidated them into having the unnecessary work done to their property.

Once they agreed the fraudster would carry out the job badly and charge them extortionate fees, with one couple being overcharged by more than £100,000.

After offering to fix a brick wall in their front garden, Smith then forced them into having more unnecessary work done to the house.

His fees then rose to around £180,000, until the couple's son became suspicious and called the police.

The elderly pair were approached by Smith in 2015 in the village of Knaphill in Surrey.

In another case around the same time, Smith took almost £200,000 from an unexpecting elderly victim in Sussex over a nine-month period.

Detectives discovered these scams were part of a large scale “rogue trader” operation across the two counties.

Smith was caught in a joint police investigation between Sussex Police and Surrey Police,

At Hove Crown Court on March 3, Smith, from Chertsey, Surrey, was jailed for eight years after he pleaded guilty to numerous fraud offences at an earlier hearing.

Smith’s two sons also helped him in his schemes, according to Surrey Police.

Michael Smith, 30, from Addlestone, Surrey, and John Smith, 25, from Banstead, Surrey, were both found guilty of money laundering at the same court hearing.

In light of the scam, police urged residents to be wary of door-to-door fraudsters.

These schemes often involve selling goods or services that are either not done or are very poor quality, Surrey Police added.

Detective Constable Barnard, the officer in charge of the case, said: “This is a great result following a very thorough investigation carried out in partnership with Sussex Police and Trading Standards.

“The lengthy prison sentence demonstrates that this sort of criminal behaviour will not be tolerated and should act as a deterrent to others who believe they can con vulnerable people out of huge sums of money and get away with it.”