A ROGUE trader who targeted women, including one Andover resident in her 90s, has been ordered to pay back £16,692.

Mark Kempster, of no fixed abode, was convicted of overcharging older and vulnerable women for roof repair work across Hampshire.

He was made subject of a confiscation order at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, April 21.

Kempster had previously pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud by false representation and was jailed for a total of four years last March.

The 51-year-old approached women in Andover, Southampton, Alresford and Gosport between January 2013 and November 2015 about roof work that was often not required.

He also overcharged them for work that was, in some cases, never completed.

After Kempster was convicted last year, officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Financial Investigation Unit undertook work under the Proceeds of Crime Act, to see if they could recover some of the money paid to Kempster in these fraudulent transactions.

Kempster has now been made subject of a confiscation order.

The money received will be returned to the women he conned, including £13,662 to a woman in her 60s from Southampton.

He was also ordered to pay £1,860 to the a woman in her 80s from Alresford and £1,170 to another from Gosport.

The victim of the Andover fraud, a woman in her 90s, did not hand over any money.

Kempster has 28 days from today to pay or he will serve a default sentence of 18 months in prison. The debt would still be outstanding. 

Detective Inspector Lee Macarthur said: “Kempster preyed on older and vulnerable women, taking substantial amounts of money from them. Thankfully the victims, who were vastly overcharged, will now get their money back. 

“These orders were secured using the Proceeds of Crime Act. The legislation has been used to claw back money from a man who remorselessly targeted people for his own financial gain.”