'Prolific' cowboy builder guilty of £1.25m fraud

A prolific rogue trader who lured customers in with his "charm and charisma" has been found guilty of a £1.25m fraud.

Mark Killick, who also operated under the names Marc Cole and Mark Jenkins, failed to complete building work at properties across the West of England between June 2020 and November 2021.

The 56-year-old, of Shoe Lane in Paulton, Somerset, was found guilty of 37 counts of fraud and cleared of one at Bristol Crown Court. The jury failed to reach a verdict on eight further charges against him.

The prosecution highlighted Killick's spending on luxury goods, including a £25,000 Rolex watch he claimed was an asset for the failing business.

It is Killick's fourth conviction for fraud since 2008 and police estimate the 37 victims in this case collectively lost more than £1.25m.

Avon and Somerset Police and Trading Standards received more than 100 complaints against Killick covering a period between 2019 and 2021.

Martyn Nicklin, from Bristol Trading Standards, said Killick offered people their "dream extension" or renovation, which he started but frequently left "completely unfinished".

He described Killick as an "excellent salesperson" who used his "charisma and charm" to defraud people.

"I think he is still one of the most prolific rogue traders that we've ever dealt with, if not the most prolific," he said.

"Certainly the scale, the number of victims, the financial impact; the harm that he's caused is vast."

Killick's trial at Bristol Crown Court began in May 2025 and lasted until 10 October, with about three months of evidence.

A reporting restriction imposed by the judge prevented media reporting the result until now.

Killick is due to be sentenced in December, with the judge having already told him a "lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable".

Killick claimed in court he intended to run an honest business but was hampered by factors beyond his control - including a shortage of workers due to the pandemic and England doing well in the Euros championship.

He was involved in a car accident on the M5 on 17 May 2021, which he used repeatedly as an excuse for delays.

The prosecution said Killick spent money on overnight stays at luxury resorts, which he claimed were business trips.

He also bought expensive jewellery which included a £25,000 Rolex Submariner watch he purchased from a jeweller in Bath in August 2020, just days after he had been given a £50,000 Covid bounce back loan.

Killick took on at least two new customers per week on average during 2020 and 2021, some just weeks before he placed TD Cole into liquidation.

In a video shown in court, one of Killick's co-directors confronted him about taking large deposits when the company was in financial trouble.

In it, Killick can be heard saying: "We've lost everything. We've lost every penny, and that's it. It's all gone."

Killick, originally from Neath, south Wales, has a decades-long criminal record.

In 2006, he was handed a 12-year Bankruptcy Restriction Order which prevented him getting more than £500 credit without revealing the order.

He went on to plead guilty to fraud in 2008, 2009 and 2014.

The 2014 conviction involved 42 victims, whose losses he accepted at £573,000.

He has had six custodial sentences, including three for unspecified crimes in magistrates' courts in the 1990s, the Ministry of Justice said.

His latest fraud trial heard evidence from 46 customers, some of whom said they felt pressured into handing over large sums of money. Work was either never finished or never started.

Many customers tried to verify Killick's background but were unable to do so because he had changed his name and trading name many times.

Lindsay contacted TD Cole in June 2021, a few days before she was due to move house. She paid £107,000 for work that was never finished.

Her home needed substantial work and Killick, whom she knew as Marc Cole, priced a bathroom renovation at £7,000.

She described Killick as "aggressive" in pointing out her property needed more work. He gave her a £100,000 quote for the overall renovation.

She told the court it was outside her price range but Killick said he could start within weeks, if she paid a £25,000 deposit, which she did.

Lindsay said she received numerous excuses as to why work could not done, including staff having Covid on three occasions.

Killick told the court he completed about £30,000 of work on her property and would have finished the project but for the fact he liquidated his company in November 2021.

Neil Hutchinson paid Killick £20,000 up front but no work was carried out on his house.

He asked TD Cole to replace his kitchen and downstairs flooring in August 2021, and said he found "Marc Cole" to be "friendly and trustworthy".

The project's scope expanded and the quote rose to £40,000.

A few days later, Killick asked Mr Hutchinson to invest in TD Cole and said its turnover would be £26m within three years. Mr Hutchinson refused.

Killick told the court he had no intention of defrauding Mr Hutchinson, intended to begin the work and said the start date was pushed back at the customer's request.

Frances Hatfield contacted Killick in March 2021 and said she felt lucky to find a builder who could start work on her kitchen extension quickly.

She paid about £56,000 in advance, but said she felt rushed and pressured into making payments.

She told the court all that was done was the demolition of an outbuilding and some work on the foundations. An issue with a drain was also identified.

Killick claimed he would have completed the work if he had not been remanded in custody.

When Ms Hatfield contacted the supposed kitchen and worktop suppliers, neither had any record of an order being placed for her materials.

Det Sgt Louise Sinclair, from Avon and Somerset Police, was instrumental in bringing Killick to justice.

"He was starting work but never had any intention of finishing it because he was spending too much of the money on lifestyle," she said.

"Then he was taking on new contracts and using that money to pay for the previous victims' work."

She said his victims described suffering "sleepless nights" and "problems with eating".

"It's just caused so much stress in their lives that they've had to have time off work," she added.

"It's caused arguments within the family, it's caused money worries. They shouldn't have to be put through that."

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