A RETIRED Worcestershire teacher has been scammed out of £5,000 by a cash in hand roofer who vanished without completing the work.

Greg Dunbar said he was "stupid" to give the money to the man, known only as "Billie", but trusted him as he had done work at the house years earlier.

Now the Droitwich man is questioning whether Billie came equipped with straw and bottled water after claiming there were squirrels nesting and water leaking through the roof.

Billie showed pictures of the problems but Mr Dunbar believes he may have just downloaded pictures from Google as part of an elaborate ruse.

The 68-year-old said: "I feel so stupid about it, I really do.

"I consider myself quite an intelligent bloke but I fell for it so I want to warn other people. 

"He told me he needed to get slate, felt and a skip but his money was tied up so if I could pay him the money to save time and give him cash in hand he could get it quicker.

"I know it is stupid but he was saying don't tell anyone at the bank why I was withdrawing the money and he wouldn't put it through the books to save me money.

"He even called up at one point after I handed him the money and asked what colour slate I had wanted."

Three weeks ago, Billie turned up at Mr Dunbar's house saying that the work he had several years ago needed replacing.

He walked Mr Dunbar around the Ledwych Road estate in Droitwich to point out other roofing work he had done.

After speaking to the homeowners it has since transpired that Billie never did any of the work or had only done part of the job.

The workman was a sole trader who gave Mr Dunbar no receipt, bill or contact details and only called from a withheld number.

Billie drove a white transit with windows on one side and had a son aged 13 or 14 who went to school in Worcester.

The work was supposed to start on Thursday, November 18 but no skip, slate or felt has arrived and neither has Billie.

"I feel so foolish, I like to think I am quite smart but I fell for it.

"The irony is our window cleaner used to be a roofer and said the work three years ago was decent which is why I trusted Billie.

"I don't want other people to fall for it. In hindsight I feel really stupid."