SIX people in Oxfordshire fell victim to a gang of cowboy builders who have been convicted of fleecing homeowners across the South of more than £900,000.

Mark Dixon, 43, of Down Hatherley, near Gloucester, Nicholas Harris, 45, of Upton St Leonards, near Gloucester, and Matthew Higgins, 43, of Gloucester, were found guilty at Bristol Crown Court of conspiracy to defraud, after a three month trial.

Co-accused Leighton Docksey, 34, and Lee Ireson, 30, also both of Gloucester, were acquitted.

The three men ran two linked firms called Construction Management Development Ltd and CMD Services Ltd, also based in Gloucester.

The court heard that between April 2005 and October 2007 they conned more than 50 people across the south of England, out of more than £900,000.

Their Oxfordshire victims lived in Botley, Cowley, Summertown, Kennington, Sutton Courtenay and Henley-on-Thames.

The gang targeted homeowners who had been granted planning permission for extensions and claimed to be extension specialists.

Once a contract was signed the gang would ask for a deposit of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent ahead of working and then disappear.

Prosecutor Rupert Lowe said: “The whole operation was dishonest from start to finish, taking the maximum amount of money, doing the minimum work and then scarper.”

The three convicted men were remanded in custody by the court to be sentenced at a later date.