Two rogue traders have been jailed after charging a pensioner £37,000 for a roof repair job which was calculated to cost over ten times less.

Tom Lee, 39, and Freddy Young, 27, repeatedly hassled their victim to fork out large sums of money to do "shoddy work" to the roof of his home in Crawshawbooth, Lancashire Police said.

The pair's rip-off was only stopped after his bank told police about the extortionate charges coming out of his account, Preston Crown Court Sessions House was told.

Lancashire Police said it uncovered a series of voice notes sent by Lee to one of his contacts in which he could be heard gloating about his crimes.

Tom Lee, 39, and Freddy Young, 27, repeatedly hassled their victim to fork out large sums of money

The fraudster was heard boasting: "This job, love it Tom, absolutely love it. There's loads of lemons about."

Lee and Young began their scam after knocking on the victim's door and informing him that work needed to be done on the roof of his home.

The victim was handed a leaflet from the pair displaying the name and contact details of a bogus company named Roofing Repair Specialists.

The fraudsters gave a verbal quote totalling £16,000 for repairs, scaffolding and to cut down a tree near the house.

Lancashire Police said it uncovered a series of voice notes sent by Lee to one of his contacts

The men demanded an upfront payment of £3,000 from the victim, which they claimed to need to buy materials to carry out the work.

The victim handed over £400 before withdrawing £3,000 from his bank account.

The cowboy builders turned up at the Lancashire home over the next few days as the homeowner continued forking out thousands to them.

After being contacted by the bank, police officers turned up to the address to find three men carrying out the "botched" repairs.

The fraudsters gave a verbal quote totalling £16,000 for repairs, scaffolding and to cut down a tree near the house

Analysis from an expert witness concluded that the work should have cost the homeowner around £3,000, who noted that the repairs carried out were of a "shockingly poor" standard.

The victim told Preston Crown Court the ordeal had left him "without a watertight roof for about three months".

He added: "There were water leaks in the attic which I tried to catch in buckets and saucepans, and water dripped from the upstairs light fittings.

"If there had been high winds, the roof would probably have blown off."

Detective Constable Beth Turner said: "I welcome the prison sentences, which the judge and I hope sends out the message that offences of this nature will not be tolerated by the police and courts."

According to a survey carried out by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in July, 37 per cent of Britons have hired builders who subsequently turned out to be unqualified or unreliable.

It is estimated that homeowners have lost around £14.3billion to rogue traders in the past five years.

FMB Chief Executive Brian Berry said: "We urgently need a licensing system for domestic building companies that ensures only competent builders are allowed to trade."

Lee and Young both pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation in February, and were jailed for two years and nine months, and two years and five months respectively.