A ROGUE gas fitter whose “slapdash, shoddy” work almost killed a young family has been jailed.

Health and safety chiefs blasted Michael Algar’s botched attempt at fitting a boiler which left deadly carbon monoxide secretly poisoning a home.

A court heard how the dodgy trader deliberately lied about being a registered gas fitter and had previously misled investigators on a separate probe about being retired.

And an engineer brought in to salvage the family’s boiler described the work as “as bad as he had ever seen”.

A judge said “it’s only by good fortune nobody died” as he sentenced Algar, 64, to 18 months behind bars at Manchester Crown Court.

The victim, who lives at the property in Manchester with his wife and young child, said it scares him to think what could have happened.

The dad, who does not want to be named, said: "The whole thing was very upsetting for me and my family.

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"You just don't know who you can trust. We never thought he wasn't who he said he was.

"We didn't realise how lucky we were to be alive until we got an expert in who told us how badly the fitting was.

"You see people on the news who die because of carbon monoxide poisoning but you never think it could happen to you.

"We're very grateful to be alive." The court heard of a previous incident in 2013 where Algar's work at a house in Urmston, Manchester, was found to have serious defects.

And another complaint from a homeowner in London in 2014 again saw the rogue referred to Health and Safety Executive.

In the latest incident in Manchester in July 2016, the family called Algar to fix their broken boiler after he was recommended to them by a friend.

But two days after the £830 boiler replacement, the mum noticed a strong smell of gas as she ran a bath for their child.

They called Algar, who came the next day and spent just six minutes repairing the boiler before leaving.

Worried that the job wasn't complete, the family called in another tradesman who found foil had been used to cover a physical gap between the boiler and the flue.

Algar, of Oldham, Gtr Manchester, was again referred to the HSE, who launched legal proceedings against him.

David Thomas, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, said: “Mr Algar has never been registered and despite telling the HSE that he was now retired he has deliberately and fraudulently held himself out as a Gas Safe registered engineer.” Judge Mark Savill said: "It's by good fortune nobody died.

"You are someone who thinks the rules don't apply to them. Your work was slapdash,shoddy and committed in the home a child was living in.

"Your selfish criminality exposed people to risk.

"You are thoroughly dishonest and your dishonesty has affected people for years."

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