Shelley Sawkins picked up the phone to chase her builder and worked out he was in Lanzarote, spending her money.
Ms Sawkins is 75. She and her husband Barry, 63, had paid about £30,000 to Christian Williams, who traded as Chris Williams Construction, for an extension to their bungalow in Buckley, Flintshire. “We paid the first instalment. The work started, and then just stopped,” she said. “Then we saw he was in Lanzarote on holiday with our money.”
Williams, 54, of Mynydd Isa, is now serving two years in prison. He admitted one count of theft and three of fraud by false representation, involving four families, and was jailed last December.
A roof that let the rain in
The first warning came when a wall wobbled under a push. Then, one night after the roof had been worked on, rainwater started pouring into the house. Ms Sawkins was caring for her husband, who has Alzheimer’s disease. “I was up in the middle of the night collecting water in buckets while trying to look after my husband,” she said. “I was in tears. I was constantly in tears. It was a nightmare.”
The work had begun in 2023 and stalled soon after. Williams rarely turned up himself. He sent workers she described as “elderly and apparently unqualified to carry out much of the work”, yet kept asking for more money. The suppliers of the bespoke bifold doors had never been paid, so the couple bought them a second time.
Fixing the job cost £50,000, against an initial quote of £21,000. About £20,000 of that went to other builders clearing up after Williams. The floor is still not level and parts of the work were never finished. The couple now want to move into sheltered accommodation. “It affected every part of our lives… our health, our home and our future,” Ms Sawkins said.
One pound back
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing earlier this month, Mold Crown Court heard that Williams had benefitted from his offending to the sum of £163,051.70. His assets, though, would stretch to repaying only £1.
He had been posting Facebook photos of holidays and days at the races. One of his other victims, a father of three, ended up finishing his own two-storey extension.
Sources
- Rogue builder spent Flintshire couple's £30k in Lanzarote
- Rogue builder spent Flintshire couple's £30k in Lanzarote
