Latest news with #MarkKillick
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'Builder Mark Killick turned our home into junkyard', jury told
A builder who is accused of defrauding customers in the West Country out of more than £2m left one woman's home looking like a "junkyard", a jury has been Killick, of Shoe Lane in Paulton, Somerset, allegedly charged customers for building materials and labour but failed to complete the work and kept the 56-year-old, also known as Mark Cole and Mark Jenkins, is accused of 46 counts of fraud committed between December 2019 and November Brooks told Bristol Crown Court her mother was hospitalised after falling down a trench Mr Killick had begun to dig but did not finish, instead disappearing and failing to reply to text messages. Ms Brooks said Mr Killick, who introduced himself as Mark Cole, had agreed to extend her driveway and rebuild the listed orangery at her home in Portishead in December was quoted £115k for the project and asked to pay a deposit of £20k upfront."He seemed very clever, had a lot of ideas about what you could do," she told the jury. "He had the gift of the gab, made a lot of sense and sounded plausible." The scaffolding went up immediately but progress was slow and inefficient, she told the court, and Mr Killick blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the months went on, she said he continued to request further money for traders and materials that never arrived - bringing the total cost to £ allegedly threatened to "halt all the work completely" if she did not pay up."We had what we thought was a contract," Ms Brooks explained. "We had sunk money into this and we needed to get it done. I had to push it forward." 'We're getting desperate' Despite repeated attempts to contact Mr Killick to confirm the schedule of works, she alleges her home was left in a dangerous state of disarray for claims the temporary scaffolding over the orangery was so poorly constructed it "kept lifting up" in the jury was shown text exchanges between the pair as she pleaded for an update, saying: "We're getting desperate, please call us. Are you still alive?"Our beautiful home looks like a junkyard. Our house is worthless until this job is done."Ms Brooks claimed completion dates were "plucked out of the air to fob [her] off". However, defence attorney Robin Shellard suggested she had expanded the project by around 30%, requiring more work than was initially agreed cited an extended driveway and a natural stone wall, but Ms Brooks disputed the claim they had not been included in the original plans."It may not have been to your satisfaction, it may not have been good enough, but a considerable amount of work had been done," Mr Shellard trial continues.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Builder stole 'equivalent of lottery win' from customers, jury told
A builder has gone on trial accused of defrauding 46 customers in the West Country out of more than £2m after failing to complete work at their Killick, of Shoe Lane in Paulton, Somerset, allegedly charged his customers for building materials and labour after agreeing to complete work, but kept the money for 55-year-old, also known as Mark Cole, is accused of 46 counts of fraud and one count of money laundering between December 2019 and November Killick denies all the charges and his trial at Bristol Crown Court is expected to last 12 weeks. A jury of eight men and four women were told by the prosecution that Mr Killick "lied" to his victims and stole "the equivalent of a lottery win" from them collectively. James Tucker, prosecuting, said the "overlapping" cases of a similar nature show Mr Killick was "acting dishonestly with purpose and not just a reckless contractor falling behind".He gave examples of three people - who will later give evidence at the trial - who all paid deposits after agreeing plans with Mr Killick before he made a "slow and inefficient" start to all the jobs, leaving their homes in jeopardy before he disappeared and failed to complete the work. 'Dishonest' Mr Killick was interviewed by police in November 2021, following numerous reports about his told officers his business had been "good" and he had "many happy customers" before it was liquidated that same Killick told police his business ran into difficulties because of the Covid-19 pandemic, an investor who backed out and an online campaign against him, the prosecution told the Tucker said: "Our case is that he did not bother to do what he should have done because it was not necessary for him to secure payment from customers and that was his sole objective."Whether you are highly able as a builder or a businessman, you can choose to be honest or dishonest."It wasn't because of Covid, or an investor pulling out, or a campaign against him which meant that while honest he could not fulfil his obligations."He made a choice to be dishonest over and over again."The trial continues.
