A COWBOY builder who laid a string of dodgy drives at houses in the Dudley and Halesowen areas has handed over a cheque for £50,000 to cover compensation for his victims.

Patrick Dunne had been locked up for 15 months for fraud after his company J.J. Callaghan ripped off householders in the area with shoddy workmanship.

Now the 46-year-old has made out a cheque to Dudley Council which will also help cover the cost of the prosecution case against him at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Philip Brunt, for the council, said a Proceeds of Crime hearing against Dunne had now been cancelled with the payment made by the workman who was described as a “menace to the community”.

Dunne, the court was told, pocketed more than £15,000 after getting five householders to pay for driveways into which their cars sank within days of the work being completed.

Mark Jackson, prosecuting, had told the earlier hearing that Dunne ran a fraudulent business and he conned and duped his customers.

He had lied about his name, his business address, that work was guaranteed and that his firm offered the best possible customer care, said Mr Jackson.

He added: “Nothing provided by him revealed either his true identity or a legitimate business address. He failed over and over again to provide customers with information about their right to cancel their contract and the quality of his work was appalling.”

Dunne, of Stafford Road, Coven, near Wolverhampton, had admitted being involved in a business carried on to defraud customers together with a string of charges involving fraud and misleading commercial practice.

The court was told the substandard drives had been laid by between February 2009 and December 2010 and they resulted in a number of complaints to Trading Standards.

Stacy Handley, who also worked for J.J.Callaghan, had been put behind bars for 18 months at another hearing after he picked up more than £57,000 by laying poor quality drives all over the Black Country area.