A BUILDER from York has won a lengthy legal battle to be paid almost £15,000 for his work in the construction of a house extension.

A judge at York County Court decided Ralph Cater was entitled to be paid £14,798 for his work on the extension at the home of Kathleen Swift, in Pocklington, in the summer of 2008.

Deputy District Judge Thorn said in a written judgment that Mr Cater, of New Earswick, who traded as RC Construction, had lodged a claim for payment for the work in December 2008.

However, Mrs Swift had defended the claim and also lodged a counter-claim for additional costs, which she said she faced as a result of having to engage a new builder to complete the works.

The judge, who dismissed the counterclaim, said several issues had been in dispute between the parties, including the precise terms of the original building contract between them, whether a £5,000 cash payment had been made at any stage to Mr Cater and the circumstances in which the contract came to an end in early August 2008.

He said Mrs Swift had told the court she paid Mr Cater £5,000 in cash and that he had attacked her at one stage during the dispute, “pushing his face into hers and frothing at the mouth”.

Mr Cater had said he had not been paid the money, had been extremely concerned about lack of payment and had been dismissed by Mrs Swift in August 2008, when she had been “quite agitated” and told him to get off the property or she would call the police.

The judge found that Mrs Swift’s evidence on the £5,000 payment had been “inconsistent and wholly unconvincing”, and he found she had not paid Mr Cater the money in cash.

He said the persistent failure by Mrs Swift to pay Mr Cater entitled him to treat this as breach of contract, and she had dismissed him from the site rather than him refusing to turn up. He also did not believe the evidence of Mrs Swift when saying there had been an “horrific” altercation with Mr Cater.

Mrs Swift told The Press she was “very upset” by the judge’s decision, which she did not accept.

Mr Cater said he had not yet received the payment and was now taking further legal action to obtain it.