A MAN who swindled thousands of pounds from pensioners after promising to carry out gardening work on their property will be sentenced later this month.

Walter Brown took deposits from three people after he gave them a price for carrying out the work.

But despite taking the cash, Brown, of Whitehill Mains Farm, Musselburgh, failed to carry out the work that had been promised.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that Brown had conned £750 from Terence Anthony after promising to do work at his Edinburgh home between September 6, 2016, and August 31, 2017.

Brown also took £1,000 from Iain Maxwell and a further £670 from Patricia West, both also from Edinburgh, between October 2016 and April the following year.

Last Thursday, Sheriff Kenneth McGowan issued compensation orders and told Brown to pay back the sums taken from the three victims, deferring full sentence to later this month.

The court also heard that Brown, 55, was currently paying back John Keating at a rate of £1,000 per month after he admitted swindling Mr Keating out of £16,450 at a previous court hearing. Brown took the sum from Mr Keating for promised work at his Edinburgh home which never materialised between December 2016 and October 2017.

Last week, solicitor Victoria Good said that her client’s “business had got on top of him and he could not fulfil the work” he had promised to complete.