An alcoholic from Watford who cashed thousands of pounds of fraudulently gained money into his bank account dodged jail on Monday.

Tricksters cold called elderly homeowners persuading them that expensive work needed to be done to their properties and then pocketed the cash without carrying out the work.

Mark Harris, 31, of Grosvenor Road, Watford, then allowed his Barclays account on several occasions, to be used to pay in the cheques from various roofing schemes.

Harris laundered the cash from three different victims for a “friend” he refused to name.

The first and hardest hit was a 71-year-old man from Bracknell, who suffers with memory problems. He was convinced by a rogue trader his roof needed replacing, a job he was quoted £20,000 for.

The pensioner agreed but between late 2007 and February 2008 when the repairs were supposedly being done the workers demanded more cash, leaving the total handed over at £126,500.

Of this £25,000 was paid into Harris’ bank account and then withdrawn again shortly afterwards.

One cheque for £20,000 was even re-presented after it bounced because the elderly victim did not have enough funds to meet the cruel demands, prosecutor Richard Bendell told the Court.

Other vulnerable victims included a 57-year-old from Woking and an 87-year-old from Kent, who was conned into handing over a cheque for £5,800 for un-needed and uncompleted work which went through the defendant’s account.

Harris, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of criminal property.

Beata Kopel, defending, said: "At the time he was an alcoholic, homeless, living out of a bag and agreed to the arrangement in return for modest payment of £100 per cheque. The bottle was as far as his thought processes went."

However, Richard Thomas, the defendant’s key worker at the New Hope Trust, confirmed he had been tee-total since he handed himself in last November and had recently got his own flat and was working as a chef.

Judge Christopher Critchlow sentenced him at Guildford Crown Court to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years with two years supervision on each count to run concurrently.

He also ordered him to attend the offender’s substance abuse programme.

He said: "Although the cheques you paid in amounted to just under £45,000 only just under £25,000 cleared.

"I hope what you have said is sincere and you stay out of trouble and you realise that by involving yourself in matters of this nature you will usually have to lose your liberty."