A cowboy builder has been jailed after cruelly conning 12 elderly people out of their money - just weeks after being released from jail for similar offences. Serial con artist Anthony Jarrett, 42, was jailed for almost two years last March for pocketing more than £3,000 in deposits for gardening and construction jobs from elderly victims in South Tyneside and Sunderland to fund his drug habit. After taking the money, Jarrett, of Scotswood, Newcastle, failed to do the work or did very little. The conman was released in June due to time spent on remand but within weeks he used the same tactics to target 12 people aged in their 60s, 70s and 80s in the same areas, Newcastle Crown Court heard.