Cowboy builder conned elderly women out of £120,000 for building work including £3,500 for a garden shed Jonathon Mills, 46, from Devon, billed victim with forty invoices Much of the work was duplicated, overcharged or simply not carried out Expert witness told court work was worth £24,000 at most Concerns raised when victim's family found out all her savings were gone Mills was jailed for five years at Exeter Crown Court Jailed: Jonathon Mills, 46, has been sentenced to five years in prison for fraudulently billing an elderly woman for building work A cowboy builder has been jailed for five years after conning an elderly woman out of her entire £120,000 savings. Jonathon Mills, 46, from Heathfield Newton Abbot, Devon, befriended the victim after she contacted him having seen his advert in a local publication. Over the next two years he then issued her with forty invoices totalling charges of £119,722.14. The victim's family finally contacted authorities after they discovered all the money in the victim's bank account had gone. An expert building surveyor told Exeter Crown Court that the work was only worth around £24,000, if all that Mills charged for had been completed. The surveyor also identified that some invoices showed work had been charged for twice on a number of different occasions. Evidence showed one of the most outrageous examples was for a shed for which Mills charged more than £3,500 to build a small two sided outhouse in her garden. Acting as an expert witness for the prosecution, the surveyor stated: 'In many invoices parts of the building were supposedly opened again and quite often to apparently deal with very slightly different issues, yet I find it impossible to believe that the need for later rectification work was not actually picked up and done at the earlier time. This is a recurring theme in the invoices. Conman: Mills charged the elderly woman £3,500 to build this simple garden shed Mills, who was jailed for similar offences in 2001, also carried out gas work for her even though he was not Gas Safe registered, which is a legal safety requirement. He was sentenced to five years in prison, the maximum penalty for the offences committed after pleading guilty to unfair trading and fraud offences following an investigation by Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service. Steve Gardiner, Special Investigations Unit Manger for Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service, said: 'The level of dishonesty and the appalling abuse of trust involved in this case is truly shocking, so it is excellent news that our Trading Standards Team have successfully worked with Devon and Cornwall Police and the Regional Scambusters team in order to bring Mr Mills to justice. Mr Mills is a skilled conman and an accomplished liar who deliberately targeted a vulnerable widow, befriending her and gaining her trust. He then took advantage of that friendship for his own gains until her money ran out. Devon County Council launched the investigation, supported by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Regional Trading Standards Scambuster Team, following concerns raised by the victim's family when they discovered that all the money from her bank account had gone.