A confiscation hearing for an Essex builder who took more than £160,000 from customers in the Ipswich area for work that was never completed has been adjourned for two weeks.

Wayne Clarke, of Goodwin Close, Chelmsford, was due to have attended a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act on Monday but it was adjourned until December 2 after he didn’t come to court.

Clarke was given a suspended prison sentence in February after pleading guilty to five offences of fraud by false representation to the value 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, took deposits from customers to buy building materials and had then not finished the work the court heard.

At his sentencing hearing one victim, who was 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, he 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."

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."

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

The court was told that Clarke hadn’t intended to commit the offences from the outset and had “catastrophically” mismanaged the projects.