TWO rogue traders who cheated elderly and vulnerable people across country - including a Halesowen couple - out of their savings, have been jailed for five years.

Conmen Alan Wilson and Christopher Wilkes charged extortionate prices for a coating service which was a “complete sham”, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The pair, who traded as Therma Seal Uk and Therma Seal (Thermal Coatings) Ltd, denied fraudulent trading but were found guilty by a jury who took three days to consider their verdict after a two-month trial.

Judge Martin Walsh told Wilson, aged 54, and Wilkes, aged 45, they had duped their retired customers in a “frenzy of commission-led fraud”.

He said they had made grossly exaggerated claims for a product they knew “had little to commend it” and their sales staff had preyed on the fears of their customers.

A Halesowen couple were told the roof coating for their home in Woodbury Road would cost £4,465 for work that should have been £872.

In the worst case, a 91-year-old Pedmore woman was charged £13,000 to have her roof coated with the product which it was claimed was used by NASA to protect space shuttles from extreme temperatures. The prosecution said the cost should have been no more than £1,050.

Mark Jackson, prosecuting, said it had been a professionally planned confidence fraud in which members of the public were conned into believing the paint would reduce the heat loss through the roof by up to 25 per cent.

He said it was a scam from start to finish that was well executed and “lie after lie after lie” was told to victims whose average age was 74.

Wilson, of Fazeley Road, Tamworth and Wilkes, of Tamworth Road, Solihull, were banned from being company directors for eight years.

After the verdicts were announced, Christopher King, Dudley Council’s principal trading standards officer, said there were more than 2,700 victims affected by the scam, including eight from Dudley borough, and between 2010 and 2012 the two companies run by the pair had a turnover of £8.5 million.

“This has been a landmark prosecution and we are clearly delighted with the result,” said Mr King, adding:

”This was serious fraud against old people who were isolated in the community and targeted during daylight hours.”