A cowboy builder abandoned a £36,000 job for a family with two disabled children before he was seen flashing their cash in a nightclub.
Rogue tradesman Jason Brice had been employed by mother-of-two Jaime Fagan to build a loft conversion for her two teenage sons with special needs.
Jaime had remortgaged the family home in order to pay for the works.
However Brice disappeared with the money, leaving the family in a ‘shoddy’ state of repair and with a leaking roof, claiming mental health and family difficulties.
Then Jaime, 46, and her partner Noah Fagan, 48, saw pictures of him on social media partying at the local nightclub and ‘flashing’ wads of cash at the bingo.
Last month Brice was jailed for eight months after admitting three offences under Consumer Protection legislation.
Speaking after the sentencing Jaime, 46, from Bristol, said it had been ‘years of hell’ and they were left around £36k out of pocket with some work still unfinished.
And she said finding the picture of him ‘partying’ in Popworld while flashing their cash had just added insult to injury.
Jaime, 46, and her partner Noah Fagan with the pictures they found online of their builder partying with their cash
She said: ‘He had disappeared, leaving us with a hole in our roof. When I saw the pictures of him out and about at Popworld, and the Brean holiday site, spending our money with his friends, I felt completely sick.
‘He had taken us for fools. He had played on our insecurities to take our money for a good time.
‘He was aware this was all the money we had. He knew what a negative impact this would have on our family, and he did it anyway’
Bristol Crown Court heard Brice, trading as Creo Creations, had left families with unfinished building projects and significant financial harm and emotional distress.
Jaime said their project included an additional bathroom – a wet room – to support their boys, aged 17 and 14, with personal care, and a spare room to allow for a carer to stay overnight as the children got older.
Additionally, they had planned to use the loft extension as a small apartment-style studio for their sons, who she said ‘may never live independently.’
She added: ‘It is over three years since he arrived in our home to start an eight-week piece of work, and it still isn’t done.
‘He walked away from our project with all our money leaving us with no means to make the house safe and useable.
The unfinished work in the family’s loft after paying £36,000 to convert it for their two disabled children
‘The result has been completely devastating to our physical and mental health and our finances.’
Jaime said that funding the project had been ‘complex’ as both her and Noah were self employed at the time and they could only get a maximum of £60,000 additional borrowing through their mortgage company.
She added: ‘We needed to upgrade the windows, which left us with £45,000 to complete the loft extension project to first fix.
‘Jason was fully aware of all this. He came into our home, he met our children. We told him about the complexities of our life, the financial pressures and our children’s needs.
‘He appeared to be understanding and empathetic. He made us believe he understood the difficulties we faced, the restrictions on our money and the importance of this loft extension to our family life – that this wasn’t about adding value to our home, it was about making it a safe and suitable home for our disabled children long term.’
But Jaime said this ’empathy and understanding’ disintegrated after the contract was signed.
‘He became increasingly difficult to work with, and made us feel trapped,’ she added.
‘He gaslighted us about progress and constantly belittled us when we questioned his work.
They had planned to use the loft extension as a small apartment-style studio for their sons, who ‘may never live independently.
‘He was aggressive and threatening over WhatsApp during a period when my husband was away.
‘He had a key to our home and I genuinely felt scared. I now realise he just didn’t want me to find out about all the ways he had cut corners and he used aggression to keep me at arms length, presumably so he could string us along for a little bit longer and extract more money.’
The defendant had initially told the couple he needed a month off with mental health problems and they were initially ‘sympathetic.’
But he never came back to work, changed his numbers and had ‘vanished’ into thin air.
Jaime said it took them months to find another builder to take the project on. They later discovered he had not even completed the £38,500 of work he had been paid for.
It cost them a further £20k just put the basics right and additional costs of £29,500 for work they had already paid him for.
She added: ‘He stole that money and spent it at Popworld.
‘We’ve only been able to do bits when we have had the money.
It cost the couple a further £20k just put the basics right and additional costs of £29,500 for work they had already paid Brice for
‘We finally started using the room in July 2024, just over two years from the scheduled date of completion, but we still need to replace the stairs which fall short of the doorway and repair the landing ceiling.’
Jaime said the children had ‘struggled to understand what happened’ and ‘blamed us for the mess we’ve been in.’
‘We started to worry about whether we could manage the mortgage on top of the additional costs and talked about moving to a cheaper house. A course of action that would have had a huge negative impact on our children’s wellbeing, and was exactly what we were trying to avoid with the loft conversion.
‘In the end I changed my job, increasing my hours and income, but we had to rely heavily on family and friends to support us with the kids.
‘We set out on this project to try and make our life easier, to stay in our home and to help support our children.
‘The result has been the compete opposite.
‘It’s a complete mess, and I am so angry that Jason Brice felt it was acceptable to use our vulnerabilities to rip us off for his own personal gain.’
Jaime said they were initially approached by Brice on Facebook after struggling to find a builder within their budget.
Jaime and Noah were approached by Brice on Facebook after they initially struggled to find a builder within their budget
‘He seemed like a nice guy, was charming although a little rough around the edges.
‘He told us he had a disabled child and understood where we were coming from and was able to start in 3 weeks.
‘It felt like a dream come true.
‘After we hadn’t heard from him in ages I just started checking out his Facebook and could see all these pictures of him out with his mates. The Pop World pictures all had dates and were over the last month when he claimed he had mental health issues. But he was our partying and spending all our money.’
She initially reported it to police who said it was a ‘civil matter’ but Trading Standards took on the case and found two other victims.
Sentencing him last month, HHJ Picton said he had done ‘terrible stuff’ and then walked away when things got difficult.
As he was being taken down he shouted – ‘What, I am going to prison, is that really necessary?’ The judge replied in a single word – ‘Yes’
Speaking after the sentencing, Jaime said: ‘The way he reacted to the prison sentence showed he had no remorse and did not think he had done anything wrong.
‘We felt we had done our due diligence, he had a registered company, had references and was on Checkatrade. But it was all fake and we just did not realise it at the time.’
