'I couldn’t sleep': Victims speak out as prolific Cornwall rogue trader jailed
Scott Murray arrives at Truro Crown Court, as Jacquie Bird reports
A rogue trader from Cornwall who used his victims’ money to fund a wedding, family holiday, and eat at expensive restaurants has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Scott Murray defrauded homeowners across Cornwall as he took thousands of pounds for unsatisfactory work.
An investigation was launched by Cornwall Council’s Trading Standards team after customers complained.
One victim, who asked not to be named, said she was so stressed by her involvement with Murray, she had to be signed off work.
"It was awful, horrible. I couldn’t sleep,” the victim said.
"I was just going over and over it, thinking ‘why didn’t I notice, why didn’t I realise?’
“Work was suffering. I ended up being off with stress of it all.”
If you have been affected by any issues in this article, here are some independent organisations and charities which may be helpful:
Renovation costs doubled - victim
Dan Townley, from Newquay, was among Murray's victims, hiring him to renovate his garden.
Dan was told the work would take eight weeks and cost £40,000 to do.
It took two-and-a-half years and cost twice as much.
“He came across a really nice guy,” Dan said.
"He had amazing reviews, every time we asked him a question, he would show us pictures of work similar to what we were asking for and he always stayed in contact with you - which we liked.
"But as soon as the work started, that’s when he would ignore you or you would get useless answers back from him.
"I ended up reporting him to Trading Standards but that was after six months of an eight-week job.
"By that point, they’d managed to systematically destroy every part of our garden.”
During the course of their investigation, Trading Standards found Murray used money from his customers to pay for personal items - including family holidays and his wedding.
“There’s one example of one consumer who was asked to pay money to Scott Murray and within one minute of that money going into Scott Murray’s bank account, it was used to fund a holiday for his family,” Rob Jenkins, from Trading Standards, said.
At Truro Crown Court today (9 January), Murray pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent activity and was jailed for two-and-a-half-years.
The court heard Murray took thousands of pounds from multiple victims for work he failed to do or did to a poor standard.
It was estimated he took approximately £200,000 from his victims between 2018 and 2023 - of which £83,000 has been paid back in compensation. The remaining £117,000 remains outstanding.