A rogue trader who was wanted by police for damaging property and threatening elderly homeowners in Buckinghamshire has been found and jailed.

Tony Williams, 41, from Slough, committed a series of offences across the county and in Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.

A manhunt has been underway after Williams failed to appear at court in April where he was sentenced in his absence to five years and three months for fraud in connection with eight rogue trading incidents, with some taking place in Beaconsfield, Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter.

The gang, including two other men from Slough and Shepperton who have been convicted, targeted elderly people stating their roofs needed fixing and while inspecting the surface would cause damage to the property.

They would offer to do the work for vastly inflated prices, but as time went on they would demand more money, often using pressure tactics, threaten the victims and offer to take them to the bank to withdraw more money.

The victims, who were mostly aged over 70 and lived alone, handed over large sums of money to the men. In one case a man paid them more than £43,000 and amended his will so that one of the offenders would receive 50 per cent of his estate upon his death.

The three men were arrested and later charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.

Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

The two other men, 20-year-old Billysam Doe and 24-year-old Dax Wharf, were both found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in early April and Wharf was also guilty of blackmail.