Victims of a builder who took more than £160,000 but never completed projects have spoken of the "turmoil and distress" caused. 

Wayne Clarke, of Goodwin Close, Chelmsford, was given a suspended prison sentence on Wednesday after pleading guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation to the tune of £161,830 between 2017 to 2018.

All of the 38-year-old's victims were from Ipswich or the greater Ipswich area.

Clarke, who traded as Omega Property Services and Eastwood Developments, had taken deposits from customers to buy building materials and then not finished the work the court heard.

Several victim statements were read out by prosecutor Benedict Peers.

One victim defrauded of £50,000 said he had paid Clarke a deposit to carry out demolition and clearance work and paid for materials which were never delivered.

In his statement, the victim said: "This criminal act inflicted on us as a family has been a roller coaster of turmoil distress and worry.

"Over the period of our dealings with Wayne the lies he told us must have exceeded one hundred.

"We have had to borrow an additional £100,000 to complete our dream.

"We had to take on the project ourselves which was a mammoth task, especially with no building experience."

"The whole saga has been emotionally and physically draining."

Another victim was defrauded out of £15,000 after paying Clarke for an extension along with alterations to windows and his kitchen.

In a statement, he said had immediately trusted the defendant as he thought Clarke was someone like him: "an ambitious man and a keen golfer who had even attended his high school".

The victim said: "I used to be a trusting person but it is apparent this trait has been to my detriment."

"We had tradesman knocking on our door asking for money already paid to the defendant to pay for the tradesmen."

He said he had been left "feeling ashamed and embarrassed" and "riddled with debt that has hindered further aspiration and dreams."

"My perception of people has changed forever." He added.

Tanveer Qureshi spoke in mitigation on behalf of Clarke saying the 38-year-old never intended to commit the offences from the outset.

Mr Qureshi said: "Clarke does apologise to all of the victims in this case. He never ever intended to commit this fraud from the outset.

"He catastrophically mismanaged these projects.

"He took on too much when he had too little and the consequences that followed were not intended."

Mr Qureshi told the court Clarke had not used the funds to support a lavish lifestyle but instead "normally used much of the deposit from one project to help purchase material for a previous project".

The court heard most of the projects had actually been started but Clarke did not have the funds to continue them.

The defendant has turned his back on the construction business and started a dog training business.

Clarke had initially pleaded not guilty to six counts of fraud but then the week before his trial was to start he changed his plea on five of the counts and the remaining one has been left unpursued. 

Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley gave him a suspended sentence because she said his family would be the ones who paid the heaviest price if he was imprisoned and she wanted to give him the ability to pay back his victims.

On top of the suspended sentence she also banned Clarke from being a company director for the next 10 years and compensation for the victims is to be settled once an investigation into the defendant's finances is complete.