A GANG of conmen who preyed on vulnerable residents across Hampshire by charging extortionate fees for unnecessary work on their homes were jailed today.

The four men and one woman posed as builders and netted in the region of £250,000 from victims who they often accompanied to banks to make sure they paid up.

Today four of the gang were sent to prison for their involvement in the scam.

Judge Roger Hetherington, sitting at Portsmouth Crown Court, told them they had committed "a mean and nasty offence" that had left the victims heavily distressed and spread worry and concern across the whole community.

He said: "Over a period of weeks or months, some work, much of it botched or quite unnecessary, would be carried out and the wretched householder would be mercilessly screwed for his money either by taking him to the bank or making him write out cheques, even in some cases getting them to take out a bank loan to fund the continued extraction of their money." John Ward, of Kanes Hill Caravan Park, Thornhill, Southampton, was sentenced to seven years in jail and was told that he shouldered the "heaviest responsibility" for the scam.

Jonathan Currie, of Slough, was jailed for three and a half years as was Floyd Gradidge, of Hinkler Road, Thornhill, Southampton, while Ward's brother Anthony, of Kanes Hill Caravan Park, Thornhill, received a four-year term.

Anne Marie Ward, also of Kanes Hill Caravan Park, is due to be sentenced later following psychiatric reports.

Full story in tomorrow's Daily Echo.