A man who scammed customers out of more than £100,000 on false promises of sheds has been jailed. Alistair Baxter, 36, claimed to be a self-employed joiner and the owner of Falkirk-based AB Garden Building Ltd. He managed to swindle over £100,000 from nearly 70 people by saying he would construct sheds and summer houses for them. Baxter snagged hefty deposits from clients in Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire, Glasgow, and Aberdeen but didn’t actually do any of the work.
One 68-year-old lady forked over a £4,150 deposit for a summerhouse in June 2022, then gave another £1,800 to settle the total balance two months later when she was told no work would start until payment was made in full. Baxter ended up not doing any work and didn’t give back the money. In September 2023, a 74-year-old woman paid a £1,250 deposit for a summerhouse that was never even started. She was later falsely informed by Baxter that the money had been refunded into her bank account. Some victims got deliveries of materials, but no construction work ever happened. He admitted to fraud at Stirling Sheriff Court and got sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central, and Fife, stated, “This was a clear case of deception and an egregious breach of trust by Alistair Baxter. He took significant sums of cash from people who paid him to do work and then brazenly refused to do the work or return their deposits. It was an appalling course of behaviour, and he has now been held to account for his crimes.”
