Home Builder Sentenced After A £154,000 Home Improvement Scam

In April 2022, Carl Roxby — a Worthing-based trader operating without formal contracts or regulatory compliance — approached an elderly homeowner in Storrington, West Sussex, and offered to replace her roof. Over the following months, Roxby systematically upsold the victim on a flat roof, conservatory work, guttering, fascias, soffits, and a patio, extracting a total of £154,000 from the pensioner before abandoning the job in September 2022 and cutting off all contact. The work he did complete was found to be substantially substandard, and the victim had been significantly overcharged for every element of the scheme. A West Sussex Trading Standards investigation uncovered the full extent of the fraud, leading to charges under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Roxby was convicted and sentenced at Lewes Crown Court in February 2025 to 24 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with 300 hours of Community Payback ordered. A compensation order secured £50,000 for the victim — a fraction of the £154,000 she had handed over to a man who knocked on her door with nothing more than a verbal promise. Disclaimer: This video is a dramatization based on real events. Some visual content was created with artificial intelligence assistance. Some details have been fictionalized and all names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.