Victim of one of Britain's worst cowboy builders reveals her house was left on the brink of collapse after £64,000 of work that wasn't needed - as stressful rows with her partner almost cancelled their wedding

A woman has revealed how a cowboy builder left her home at risk of collapse and ruined the lead-up to her wedding.Joanne Dagostina and her husband, Anthony, 42, employed rogue builder Patrick Hartley to build an extension and fit a new kitchen. It was only after the work was finished, at a cost of £64,216, that a structural engineer told her the house was not safe.Hartley, 51, has been described as 'one of the most prolific and heartless' fraudsters that Lancashire County Council had ever come across, after cheating a total of 13 households across the North West out of nearly £700,000, with many having to pay thousands more to finish incomplete work.Last month, Hartley, was jailed for three years and nine months after racking up a million pounds in costs and losses.Joanne, 42, says: 'I think the sentence is way too light. He put me and my family at risk. I was told next door's house could have come down also. The fact that me and my children are still alive is nothing short of chance.'He lied to us all the way through the build, coming up with more and more outlandish excuses why he wasn't working, and all the time he kept taking our money. Joanne Dagostina's kitchen after it was ripped out. It took seven months to install Joanne Dagostina and her husband, Anthony, 42, on their wedding day. She said the stress of the building problems almost derailed their big day Everything had to be ripped out and steel beams installed to make the property structurally safe 'It took seven months to finish the job and then it broke my heart to see it all ripped up again because it wasn't safe. It was like watching the whole project on rewind. We were planning our wedding throughout and it caused so much stress and upset that we almost didn't get married.'Joanne, from Failsworth, Greater Manchester, found Hartley on Facebook over Christmas 2021.She says: 'He had great reviews, he invited us to his house and we met his family. He seemed very genuine and trustworthy.'Hartley quoted £34,000 for a new kitchen and extension and began work in February 2022, with a completion time of 12 weeks.Joanne says: 'He found more and more problems with the house, he said our electrics needed updating, we needed new dampproof then he said the shower and taps were broken and we needed a new bathroom.'Looking back, I wonder whether we really needed any of this at all. My father died during that time and I think he took advantage.'We were paying him monthly and, in the meantime, he was leaving us in a mess. The bathroom was ripped out for eight weeks and there was a hole on the landing at one point. We had children, we had nowhere to shower or bath.'Hartley kept not turning up. He sent photos of his family members saying they were ill. He told us the electrician had been reunited with a long-lost daughter so had taken the week off. I think he just said whatever popped into his head and he didn't care that we were living in chaos.'It was very stressful; it caused a lot of rows and extra expense. We were planning our wedding, but it was a horrible time for us.' The completed kitchen which took Haryley seven months to install Patrick Hartley, 51, has been jailed for three years and nine months after racking up a million pounds in costs and losses.The couple paid Hartley over £70,000, £5,000 of which he refunded when he admitted he could not find anyone to fit their new doors.Joanne says: 'Nobody would work with him because he didn't pay his bills.'By August, the project was finally finished.Joanne says: 'We were not happy with it but just so relieved it was over. We contacted Building Control to sign the work off and they said they hadn't seen photos of the steel beams in the extension. I said there were no steel beams, and they sent an engineer who informed us our home was a 200 per cent failure risk and it was not safe downstairs. Our neighbours were also at risk.'We had to get builders in urgently, and we had to live upstairs whilst the whole thing was ripped out, the flooring, the kitchen units, the wiring, the new walls, so that beams could be fitted. I cried so much. It was awful.'The extra work set the couple back £14,000 and Hartley refused to pay for any of it.Joanne says: 'I went to his home, but he fobbed me off. I contacted the police and trading standards and then we got together with other families who had also been ripped off, to start a prosecution.'Hartley initially pleaded not guilty to 26 offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. In May 2025, he pleaded guilty to six Fraud Act offences and three offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. He was jailed at Preston crown Court last month and also given a seven-year criminal behaviour order preventing him from owning a business which takes part in private building work.Hartley's sentencing came as the Government announced new measures aimed at tackling cowboy builders.Prime Minister Andy Burnham said too many homeowners were being left out of pocket after paying large deposits for work that was never completed, announcing plans for customers' money to be held securely and released in stages as building work progresses.