How prolific cowboy builder kept up cons despite criminal past

Mark Killick is one of Britain’s most prolific cowboy builders and has criminal convictions dating back to 1995.

His latest crimes, which led to his fourth fraud conviction, involved 37 victims who police estimate lost more than £1.25m between them.

The 56-year-old was able to leave prison, legally change his name twice and continue to work in the building trade in the West of England – where he was able to repeatedly defraud customers.

The prosecution in his latest trial said he “never intended” to complete work and “lied” to “get money out of the customer’s bank account and into his”.

Many of his victims had tried to check him out but found no red flags. Instead, they read glowing reviews online and found a slick website.

The case has prompted fresh calls for tighter rules on convicted fraudsters and more regulation in the building trade, with fears the system is failing victims.

Mark Killick had a decades-long criminal record, but his customers were unaware of it.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said his first convictions were at magistrates’ courts in South Wales in 1995 and 1996, although it is unclear what offences he committed.

Killick was made bankrupt in 2004 and was given a 12-year Bankruptcy Restriction Order in January 2006. This prevented him from accepting payments of more than £500 without telling people about the order.

His first confirmed convictions for fraud were in 2008 and 2009, when he admitted offences at Cardiff and Swansea crown courts respectively after failing to finish domestic building work.

In 2014, Killick pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation while trading as Mark Jenkins or Pro-Fit Builders. He accepted losses of £573,000 to 42 victims and was sentenced to five years in prison at Bristol Crown Court but was released in 2016 and served the rest of his sentence on licence.

Mark Killick has worked in the building trade for most of his life and has used multiple business and personal names.

He was born Mark Killick but first changed his name to Mark Jenkins, which he said was in tribute to his grandfather.

He changed his name to Marc Cole in 2019 and said this was to fit in with his new wife and her family.

Killick was not doing anything illegal by changing his name, but it meant some customers did not connect him to his crimes.

Jonathan Gilbert is a lecturer in criminology at the University of the West of England, in Bristol.

He has first-hand knowledge of the UK’s fraud laws as he was convicted of £30m mortgage fraud in 2014.

Now released on licence, Mr Gilbert studies financial crime and regulation, and advises business and public sector agencies on white collar crime.

He said there were in general no restrictions on fraudsters changing their names.

“They can simply go online and go to one of the providers of deed polls,” he explained. “They can pay a small extra fee and get certified copies to send to multiple banks or utility companies to reinvent themselves.”

Mr Gilbert added: “Fraudsters should perhaps have extended licence conditions, certainly if their MO [modus operandi] involved changing their name.”

The MoJ said it could not discuss licence conditions for individual offenders. Killick’s latest trial did not hear about any restrictions on him working in the building trade after 2019.

Mr Gilbert said he believed a central register of convicted fraudsters could be created to enable the public to spot rogue traders.

“In certain areas, certainly in bank and mortgage fraud, you have systems. They will have details of previous criminal convictions,” he said.

“But vulnerable homeowners will not have those tools. They just have to rely on the internet.”

The Home Office website says it wants to make it harder for people to change their names “to support criminality” but it is unclear what checks were made on Mark Killick in 2019.

Builders are not required to be licensed to trade even if they are undertaking jobs worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Alli Gay is the south-west regional president of construction trade body the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), which wants a law change to force builders to be licensed.

“If you’re a good builder and you are really invested in providing a good quality product to your client, that [getting a licence] shouldn’t be at an extra cost,” said Ms Gay, who also runs building firm Chi Homes.

“We’re in an industry where most other professionals are regulated. Planning, lawyers, finance – it’s all regulated,” Ms Gay added.

“But the builder that’s actually putting together your home is not.”

The FMB said the lack of confidence in builders had put homeowners off getting work done. It estimated this led to £10bn worth of inactivity in the economy.

It said the public may have lost as much as £14.3bn to cowboy builders, with 15% of respondents to its recent survey reporting an average loss of £1,759.

Those opposed to licensing, such as the National Federation of Builders, said it would add costs to the industry and could see some builders quitting the trade.

In a statement, a government spokesperson said: “We regularly review how standards within the construction sector could be improved, but any action taken must be robust, proportionate and evidence-based.”

Many customers spoke of how Killick’s professional online presence and abundance of positive reviews helped convince them to hire him. It remains unclear how many of these reviews were genuine.

Killick paid money to Google to promote his website, which he said in court was no different from other businesses.

A spokesperson from Google UK said it had stopped 5.1 billion “bad ads” in 2024, and was “investing heavily” in artificial intelligence technology to remove ads that violated its policies.

Martyn Nicklin from Bristol Trading Standards advised people to get multiple quotes and speak directly to people as well as doing online research.

“Don’t necessarily rely on reviews that you can read online that aren’t always verified,” he added.

He said it often paid to be patient, as some good builders had waiting times of between six months and two years.

“Be wary of anyone that can start straight away and wary of anyone that wants large cash upfront payments,” Mr Nicklin added.

“Most reputable builders will be happy to put in a payment schedule for you.”