Builder found guilty of £1.25m rogue trader fraud

A builder has been found guilty of defrauding his customers of more than £1.25million following a joint investigation by Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council’s Trading Standards team.

More than 100 complaints were made against Mark Killick resulting in him being charged with 46 offences of fraud by false representation between 2019 and 2021, worth the equivalent of a ‘lottery win’, his trial was told.

The jury found him guilty of 37 counts and he was remanded in custody to be sentenced on Monday 22 December. Further work will be carried out to establish if any money can be regained via the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The prosecution said Killick, from Paulton, dishonestly took payments from customers, intending all along he would keep their money, rather than use it for the promised work.

Killick, who was known to his customers as Marc Cole, used some of the funds he said was to process their building projects for personal expenditure, including gambling and travel.

‘Urgent’ bills

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The jury were told during the 14-week trial at Bristol Crown Court that Killick would request customers pay large sums of money upfront to enable him to pay for orders or materials.

He stressed to some customers they needed to pay their bills ‘urgently’, but the court was told he was running a ‘ponzi scheme’ and effectively using that money to fund the work for customers who had paid him months before for jobs he had not completed. He was also accused of failing to pay suppliers and contractors too, increasing the company’s liabilities.

Killick’s company, TD Cole Ltd, began work for some of his customers, who would then see no progress for weeks or months at a time, even after having already spent tens of thousands of pounds.

The prosecution said the victims were in a weak bargaining position, because their house had been turned into a building site and they were left waiting for Killick to return calls and messages to explain when work would re-start. Therefore, if he asked for more money, they felt compelled to pay to avoid writing off their financial losses.

Other customers paid Killick and TD Cole for work that was never even started.

The jury retired to consider their verdicts over several weeks and found Killick guilty of 37 counts of fraud by false representation (33 unanimously and four by majority verdict) and not guilty on one count. The remaining eight counts he was not convicted of.

It is estimated the value of the work not done by Killick across his 37 victims was approximately £1,270,000. They spent a total of £1,473,191 with the company.

Criminal past

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Killick’s victims were unaware of the financial issues TD Cole Ltd was facing or his criminal record.

Between 2008 and 2014 Killick was investigated and prosecuted twice for fraud offences relating to failing to complete building work after asking for deposits. In 2008 he was convicted under the name Killick and in 2014 under the name Mark Jenkins, which was his grandfather’s name.

In the 2000s he was also declared bankrupt.

In January 2019, Killick changed his name by deed poll to Marc Cole and the following month created TD Cole Ltd. He told the jury this name change was for family reasons.

Detective Sergeant Louise Sinclair said: “Mark Killick sold his customers a housing redevelopment dream. He left them with a nightmare and thousands of pounds out of pocket. It was fraud on an eye-watering scale.

“The change of name prevented any of Killick’s customers who researched his credentials from seeing the media reports of his previous fraud convictions. He is a serial fraudster.”

Killick, when later questioned by police, said the business started well with customers sharing positive online reviews. He said events outside of his control hugely impacted on how quickly jobs were able to progress, including Covid-19, fuel strikes and a collision he was involved in.

Killick, which is his birth name, was investigated by Trading Standards in 2020, following a series of complaints about the business. The investigation was subsequently referred to Avon and Somerset Police, who worked alongside the Crown Prosecution Service, to secure the 46 charges.

Killick chose to liquidate TD Cole Ltd at the start of November 2021 after building up liabilities he could not afford, but was continuing to take customers’ money in the days before.  He was arrested by detectives a few weeks later.

He told police during interviews he was starting a new company called Cole Design, which would be a sole trader, and that this business would have finished any unfinished TD Cole Ltd work. He said his arrest prevented that from happening.

DS Sinclair said: “Lots of companies took a big financial hit because of the Covid-19 restrictions. Lockdowns and self-isolation meant it was a really difficult environment for businesses and the struggles Killick faced were replicated across the country.

“Had he explained to customers Covid-19 was impacting on the when the work could be started, I’ve no doubt most, if not all, would have understood that.

“But that’s not what he chose to do, because he wanted their money.

“He chose to lie time and time again, putting pressure on customers to hand over large sums of cash to secure orders for them, when he knew the money they were giving was not going to be used for their work at all.

“Killick was paying himself a commission for every job secured, and therefore some of the cash customers were handing over expecting to be paying for their construction projects and orders, was instead going to his personal account and being used on hotel stays and gambling.

“The perilous financial situation was such that Killick was using a pawnbrokers for cashflow, unbeknown to his victims, and he was continuing to ask for payments a few days before liquidating TD Cole Ltd.

“Killick’s claim he would have completed the work through a new company does not bear up to scrutiny when you consider the lies he had already spun to customers and the fact the money he’d been paid for those jobs had already been spent. He did not have the funds to do that.”

Martyn Nicklin, Trading Standards Investigator at Bristol City Council, said: “We work very closely with our partners in the police to ensure that offenders are brought to justice and share best practice and intelligence to ensure we are monitoring and targeting offenders and bringing them to justice. 

“This prosecution sends a strong signal to other rogue builders that they will face serious consequences should they follow a similar path.”

Stay safe from rogue traders

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Killick paid for advertising and therefore many of his victims found TD Cole Ltd via a search engine as one of the first results that appeared. He posited positive reviews on his website, which made it look like his company was highly successful.

Mr Nicklin added: “The conclusion of this trial is also an opportunity for us to remind anyone considering building works to do their research to make sure they are employing a trader that is competent and responsible.

“There are many excellent tradespeople out there, but there are also a significant number of rogue traders that offer what sounds like an excellent service and price but will be unable to deliver either on time or on budget.”

A detailed checklist is available here: Finding a builder checklist.pdf

To report a rogue trader, contact the Trading Standards Service via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133.