Elderly Gosport man charged £24k for roof work as male chased down and detained in "Hot Fuzz" style arrest

Police were called to the scene at Alexandra Street in Gosport on Tuesday (March 11) by concerned neighbours. A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary spokesman said a man in his 70s was given a quote of £24,000 for roof work at roughly 2.28pm.

As previously reported in The News, the male didn’t stick around once the officers arrived. Gosport Police said on Facebook: “On arrival our suspect male ran from Police, hopping over the back garden wall. But in true Hot Fuzz fashion, the suspect was no match for PC 30100 who caught him after a foot chase.”

A police spokesman added: “A 32-year-old man from Havant was arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation. He has been released on initial police bail until 11 June while further enquiries are carried out.”

SGT 27954 Cottrell, one of the officers who handled the incident, issued a plea for the public to keep an eye on vulnerable people who may be susceptible to rogue traders.

He said: “If you have vulnerable family, friends or neighbours in your road or family members, please keep an eye out for rogue traders. Remind them not to accept the first quote, speak to family, friends or even trading standards to make sure everything is in order before paying for services.

“We can’t be everywhere all the time to prevent this from happening, but by working with the community in this way we can bring offenders to justice. We take reports like this very seriously.”

Spike in Rogue Trader incidents

Police previously warned of a spike in rogue trader incidents in Fareham, Locks Heath, Warsash and elsewhere. A total of seven incidents took place in between September 27 and October 17 in Titchfield, Fareham and Southampton, typically consisting of males purporting to be tradesmen and carrying out minimal work on each visit.

One of them One of the incidents led to four men being arrested after a woman in her 80s handed over £32,800 to them for roof work.