A GENEROUS plasterer from St Albans has come to the rescue of a local elderly couple who were ripped off by a rogue builder. Rudy Brune of Gorham Drive said that he was disgusted when he read a story in the Herts Advertiser about Tony and Janet Szymczak

A GENEROUS plasterer from St Albans has come to the rescue of a local elderly couple who were ripped off by a rogue builder.

Rudy Brune of Gorham Drive said that he was "disgusted" when he read a story in the Herts Advertiser about Tony and Janet Szymczak, who paid a builder more than �2,000 in cash to weatherproof their back wall, only for him to abandon the job halfway through.

The builder, who offered no receipt for the transaction, sent two foreign workers to Mr and Mrs Szymczak's property a couple of weeks ago, but after only two days of labour they both left and have not been seen since.

Rudy, aged 28, said that he felt very sorry for Mr and Mrs Szymczak: "I grew more and more incensed as I read the story in the newspaper - how could anyone be so dishonest? It gives builders and plasterers a bad name.

"Luckily, as a plasterer by trade, I'm in a position to help."

Rudy, who was one of two St Albans builders who responded to the article, contacted Mr and Mrs Szymczak via the Herts Advertiser to offer to finish the botched weatherproofing job for free, minus the cost of materials.

He visited Mr and Mrs Szymczak at their property in the Camp Road area last week and said there was a lot of work to do: "I was shocked by the mess the previous builder has made of the back wall - it looks like a �70 job tops.

"It will take me at least a couple of days to sort it out, but I won't accept any payment until the job's done!"

Janet, aged 78, said that the arrival of Rudy was a great relief: "He's a very nice man and was extremely helpful. He gave our back wall a thorough inspection and he's sorted out scaffolding and a skip, so hopefully we'll have our house back to normal before long.