John Ives, 61, of Biggin Hill, who suffers from a form of leukaemia, and his wife Susan, 56, paid a deposit of £1,900 to David Hoskin to double glaze their house.

Now Hoskin, aged 40, of Bearsted in Kent, has pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to six charges of obtaining money by deception, two of obtaining services by deception and asked for 19 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Susan Ives said: "It's almost worth him doing it for that short a sentence.

"He seemed so genuine when we spoke to him and even promised to do the work himself because he knew my husband was ill and needed quite but then he just disappeared with our money.

"I would just urge people to do everything they can to check out the people they want to do work and refuse to pay a deposit.

"I would also ask anyone else who has been a victim of Mr Hoskin to come forward so police can look at it again."

Hoskin, an undischarged bankrupt, advertised his services as a plumber, central heating engineer and double glazier in local papers claiming to be CORGI registered and that his company was established in 1976.

People contacted Hoskin, who is married with four children, and he took deposits from them but never did the work. Altogether he netted nearly £30,000, none of which has been repaid.

Defending, Stephen Nelson said Hoskin had set up on his own after his employer went into receivership and had been overcome by the volume of work coming in. "He was astonished at the ease with which he was able to get credit from suppliers," he said.