Alistair Baxter, 36, took thousands of pounds for the work from almost 70 people, some of them pensioners in their seventies. He took orders and banked large deposits from customers in Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

But he then failed to carry out any of the work and his victims lost their money. Baxter, described as a self-employed joiner and owner of Falkirk-based AB Garden Building Ltd, was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to fraud.

Baxter, who advertised his business on social media, carried out his offending between September 2020 and March 2024. In June 2022, one 68-year-old woman paid £4,150 as a deposit after Baxter quoted £5,900 to build a summerhouse.

In September of that year, Baxter told her the job would not be carried out until the full £1,800 balance had been paid. The money was transferred but the work was never carried out and no refund was issued.

In September 2023, a 74-year-old woman paid a £1,250 deposit for a summerhouse but the work was never started. She was later falsely told by Baxter that the money had been refunded into her bank account.

Some victims received deliveries of materials, but no construction work ever took place.

Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “This was a clear case of deception and an egregious breach of trust by Alistair Baxter. He took significant sums of cash from people who paid him to do work and then brazenly refused to do the work or return their deposits.

“It was an appalling course of behaviour and he has now been held to account for his crimes.”