Bankrupt rogue builder took people's savings and 'ruined their lives'

FIVE TRUSTING VICTIMS WERE SHOWN COMPLETE DISREGARD, SAYS INVESTIGATOR

- By TELEGRAPH REPORTER

A BANKRUPT builder from Derby who “ruined people's lives” took their savings and left them in properties that were unhabitable, has been jailed for a year.

Derby Crown Court heard how Mickleover’s Nigel Dinneen secured advance payments worth £400,000 from five victims in the Midlands without revealing to them that he was declared bankrupt in July 2019, as he was legally required to do.

The 72-year-old’s first victim, who lives in Leicester and works as a fire and security contracts manager, said the builder was “very enthusiastic” about the contract being signed and the deposit being paid in the summer of 2019.

However, the defendant, of Duesbury Court, did not disclose his bankruptcy to the victim when he took advance payments from him.

He said that progress soon stalled on the £40,000 extension, and problems came to a head in the run-up to Christmas 2019.