A frustrated tradesman cracked and made up a lie that the bailiffs were at his client’s door in a desperate attempt to get the money owed to him, a court heard.
Daniel O’Sullivan had been hired to carry out work at the Ipswich home of a woman last year, Suffolk Magistrates’ Court was told.
O’Sullivan, 39, completed the work asked of him and asked the woman for £400 in payment. However, she did not pay him the money due.
After contacting the woman several times, O’Sullivan grew “desperate”, the court was told. He phoned the woman, and told her that bailiffs were on her doorstep at that very moment and were about to gain entry and remove her possessions to recover the value of the money she owed him. This was not true.
Read more
Father discussed teacher fantasies in online chatroom, court told
Alcoholic who stole beer protests his hefty fine saying it didn't cost that much
Man admits arson after van set alight in town centre
O’Sullivan said that, if the woman paid him the money, the bailiffs would not enter her property. This she ultimately did, but later discovered that O’Sullivan had made up the story.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim spoke of the stress the incident had caused her, claiming that some of her hair had fallen out as a result.
O’Sullivan, of Museum Street, Ipswich, admitted one count of fraud by false representation committed in September last year.
In sentencing O’Sullivan, District Judge Matthew Bone acknowledged that the defendant had only sought to recover the money that was rightfully owed to him. However, the means he chose to do this were “incredibly stupid and unpleasant”, Judge Bone said.
He fined O’Sullivan £200 and ordered him to pay £85 court costs and an £80 surcharge towards victims’ services.
Share