Man jailed for conning nearly 70 people out of £100,000 in garden shed scam

A conman who scammed nearly 70 people across Scotland, some in their 60s and 70s, out of more than £100,000 by breaking his promises to build garden sheds and summerhouses, has been jailed for three years and four months.

Alistair Baxter, who made over £30,000 a year from his fraudulent scheme, was told by a sheriff: “Your greed was quite remarkable”.

Baxter, 36, advertised on social media and took orders and pocketed deposits from victims as far afield as Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told that people whom Baxter told would get cabins, garden summerhouses and sheds never received them.

Several who paid large deposits received phone calls from Baxter asking for yet more money before their garden buildings were put up, but though they paid they still were not erected.

One victim paid a £1,000 deposit, then over a five month period Baxter requested two further payments on account totalling £1,650.

When the customer contacted him, Baxter blocked him on Facebook and messaged him saying “You’re not not getting your shed ha ha ha”. He received no refund.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton told Baxter, who appeared for sentencing via a video link from Low Moss Prison: “You were literally laughing at him.”

The court heard that other people who complained and asked for their money back got only partial refunds or, in most cases, no refund at all.

Some customers received deliveries of materials, but no construction took place.

Others had previously successfully had summerhouses erected by Baxter’s company, AB Garden Building Ltd., with a registered office in California, Falkirk, went on to pay extra for enhancements or improvements but they were never carried out and they too lost their money.

Prosecutor Jamie Hillend said that between September 2020 and March 2024, Baxter defrauded 67 customers altogether, of a total of £110,000.

The court heard they were unlikely ever to get their money back.

In June 2022, a 68-year-old woman paid £4,150 as a deposit after Baxter quoted £5,900 to build a summerhouse.

In September of that year, Baxter told her the job would not be carried out until the full £1,800 balance had been paid.

The money was transferred but the work was never carried out and no refund was issued.

In September 2023, a 74-year-old woman paid a £1,250 deposit for a summerhouse but the work was never started.

She was later falsely told by Baxter that the money had been refunded into her bank account.

Baxter, of Falkirk pleaded guilty to fraud.

Solicitor Alison Miller, defending, said that when Baxter, a joiner, started his business in 2017, it was not with the intention of fraud.

But the garden items trade boomed during the coronavirus pandemic and he found himself under stress. He also had a gambling problem, and an employee took money from him.

Ms Miller said: “Money was coming in from various customers and he started to re-purpose it in different ways. He became in debt, and was unable to pay the large majority of the victims back.”

Sheriff Hamilton told Baxter: “I accept you paid back some money to some customers, but it was very little in the scheme of things.

“Significantly, it wasn’t a scheme designed to dupe for example large business or government. Many private individuals… lost significant sums. No doubt all of your victims felt financial pain from your dishonesty.

“There’s no appropriate alternative to custody in this case – the public is fed up with bogus workmen.”

According to Companies House, AB Garden Building Ltd is subject to an “active proposal to strike off”.

Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “This was a clear case of deception and an egregious breach of trust by Alistair Baxter.

“He took significant sums of cash from people who paid him to do work and then brazenly refused to do the work or return their deposits.

“It was an appalling course of behaviour and he has now been held to account for his crimes.”