A dodgy tradesman who spent more than $135,000 on gambling and porn after conning 89 victims out of their money has been jailed.

Lewis Blake, a window shutter installer, took deposits of nearly $80,000 from customers — but never returned to their homes to complete the work. 

The 43-year-old from Whitstable, Kent, was found to have spent more than $125,000 gambling and more than $17,000 on adult websites, police said.

Blake’s offending, which took place between August 2020 and May 2021, was reported to Kent Police by multiple victims who had created a social media group to share their experiences.

He later told officers he had priced himself too low and had gambled with his customers’ money in order to be able to complete the orders. 

Canterbury Crown Court heard that Blake, who was described by victims as having been “polite and well-presented”, had taken deposits totaling $79,856 from 89 different victims. 

The victims were happy enough to pay the fraudster half the cost of the window shutters in advance. 

However, Blake never returned to the properties to complete the work. 

He gave various excuses to his victims for not returning to complete the work, including the impact of the pandemic and problems with the shipping of the products from overseas.

It was later established that Blake had ordered just 14 shutters between 2019 and 2022, having instead scuppered his victims’ money on adult websites and betting. 

After admitting fraud, he was jailed for 18 months and banned from being a company director for seven years.

Det Const Beth Brimmicombe-Wood, of Kent Police, added that Blake had told officers his gambling of victims’ money was done with the completion of their shutters in mind. 

She said: “Criminals like Lewis Blake give reputable tradespeople a bad name when they betray the trust of their customers for their own personal benefit.

“Following his arrest he told us he had mistakenly priced himself too low and had attempted to gamble his customers’ money in order to complete the orders. 

“But even if that were true, it was not his money to gamble with and many victims were left out of pocket as a result.

“It is entirely appropriate that he should be sent to prison for the crimes he has committed.”