Cowboy builder Mark Killick jailed for defrauding 37 customers of £1.25 million
A cowboy builder who defrauded dozens of customers out of more than £1.25 million is facing jail.
Mark Killick, who was known to his customers as Marc Cole, dishonestly took payments from customers and then spent it on himself, traveling the world in luxury and funding his gambling.
It is estimated that the value of the work not done by Killick across his 37 victims was approximately £1,270,000. They spent a total of £1,473,191 with the company.
It was only when Killick received more than 100 complaints that he was subsequently charged with 46 offenses of fraud by false representation between 2019 and 2021 – worth the equivalent of a “lottery win”, his trial was told.
The 14-week trial at Bristol Crown Court found the fraudster, from Paulton, Somerset, guilty of 37 counts. He was remanded in custody to be sentenced on Dec 22.
Speaking after the case, police described Killick’s offending as “fraud on an eye-watering scale.”
The trial heard how Killick would request customers pay large sums of money upfront to enable him to pay for orders or materials.
He then stressed to some customers they needed to pay their bills “urgently”, but the court was told he was running a “Ponzi scheme” and effectively using that money to fund the work for customers who had paid him months before for jobs he had not completed.
He was also accused of failing to pay suppliers and contractors too, further increasing the company’s liabilities.
Killick’s company, TD Cole Ltd, began work for some of his customers, who would then see no progress for weeks or months at a time, even after having already spent tens of thousands of pounds.
The prosecution said the victims were in a weak bargaining position, because their house had been turned into a building site and they were left waiting for Killick to return calls and messages to explain when work would re-start.
Therefore, if he asked for more money, they felt compelled to pay to avoid writing off their financial losses.
Other customers paid Killick and TD Cole for work that was never even started.
The jury retired to consider their verdicts over several weeks and found Killick guilty of 37 counts of fraud by false representation and not guilty on one count. He was not convicted on eight other counts.
Speaking after the guilty verdict, Det Sergeant Louise Sinclair said: “Mark Killick sold his customers a housing redevelopment dream. He left them with a nightmare and thousands of pounds out of pocket.
“The change of name prevented any of Killick’s customers who researched his credentials from seeing the media reports of his previous fraud convictions. He is a serial fraudster.”
Between 2008 and 2014, Killick was investigated and prosecuted twice for fraud offenses relating to failing to complete building work after asking for deposits.
In 2008 he was convicted under the name Killick and in 2014 under the name Mark Jenkins, which was his grandfather’s name. In the 2000s he was also declared bankrupt.
In January 2019, Killick changed his name by deed poll to Marc Cole and the following month created TD Cole Ltd. He told the jury this name change was for family reasons.
When later questioned by police, Killick claimed the business started well with customers sharing positive online reviews but events outside of his control hugely impacted on how quickly jobs were able to progress, including Covid-19, fuel strikes and a collision he was involved in.
Killick was investigated by Trading Standards in 2020 following a series of complaints about the business.
The investigation was then referred to Avon and Somerset Police, who worked alongside the Crown Prosecution Service, to secure the 46 charges.
Killick chose to liquidate TD Cole Ltd at the start of November 2021 after building up liabilities he could not afford, but was continuing to take customers’ money in the days before.
He was arrested by detectives a few weeks later. He told police during interviews he was starting a new company called Cole Design, which would be a sole trader, and that this business would have finished any unfinished TD Cole Ltd work. He said his arrest prevented that from happening.
DS Sinclair added: “Lots of companies took a big financial hit because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
“Lockdowns and self-isolation meant it was a really difficult environment for businesses and the struggles Killick faced were replicated across the country.
“Had he explained to customers Covid-19 was impacting on when the work could be started, I’ve no doubt most, if not all, would have understood that.
“But that’s not what he chose to do, because he wanted their money.
“He chose to lie time and time again, putting pressure on customers to hand over large sums of cash to secure orders for them, when he knew the money they were giving was not going to be used for their work at all.”
Head of Investigations
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