STORY
A Derby builder who took more than £200,000 from homeowners while knowing his company was insolvent has been jailed for fraudulent trading. Michael Haslam, of Oaklands Avenue, Littleover, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday 1 July after pleading guilty in May.
The Insolvency Service said Haslam ran M&J Builders Limited while it was insolvent, taking money upfront from seven customers between 2020 and 2022. Victims were left with unfinished and dangerous building work, including unsafe structures, homes without running water and projects which required thousands of pounds in additional repair work.
One victim from Darley Abbey paid more than £150,000 for work on a property she had intended to renovate for her retirement, but received about £40,000 worth of work. Another victim in Allestree paid for an extension and garage refurbishment before being left without running water for seven months, while a further household was told by council inspectors that botched work might need to be demolished entirely.
Investigators found that money from the company’s accounts was used for cash withdrawals, Amazon and eBay purchases and payments to Haslam’s family. The Insolvency Service said almost £400,000 was paid from the M&J Builders Limited business account under the reference ‘MG Haslam Expenses’, while a personal account used by some customers showed £164,229 in cash withdrawals and £77,376 paid to the couple’s daughter.
Haslam was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years. Mark Stephens, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said the case showed the human cost of fraudulent trading and said the agency would continue to pursue fraudsters who exploited innocent people.