Hawstead builder ordered to pay £70,000 compensation and costs
Liz Cummins (left) and Kelly Cameron who are to receive more than �70,000 from builder Mark Everett in compensation and costs Picture: ARCHANT - Credit: Archant
A rogue builder who left a Suffolk couple with a potential repair bill of £100,000 for a botched extension at their home has been ordered to pay £70,000 in compensation and costs.
Photograph of the work carried out by Mark Everett on the home of Liz Cummins and Kelly Cameron in Bury St Edmunds Picture: TONY BARNARD - Credit: Tony Barnard
Mark Everett, 52, of Whepstead Road, Hawstead, was given a two year jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 180 hours unpaid work at Ipswich Crown Court in April after admitting being party to a fraudulent business.
Everett was prosecuted by Suffolk Trading Standards after he carried out building work on a house in Bury St Edmunds between December 31, 2015 and October 5, 2016 without obtaining any building calculations.
The court heard the victims were left with an estimated £50,000 worth of work to pay for - but fixing the shoddy workmanship could cost twice as much
Photograph of the work carried out by Mark Everett on the home of Liz Cummins and Kelly Cameron in Bury St Edmunds Picture: TONY BARNARD - Credit: Tony Barnard
On Monday (June 17) Everett returned to Ipswich Crown Court for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act which heard the benefit from his offending was £49,664.
Alison Hollis, prosecuting, said Everett had available assets of £100,000 which were currently frozen.
Judge David Pugh made a confiscation order in the sum of £49,664 which Miss Hollis said would be paid as compensation.
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Everett was also ordered to pay £21,850 costs and a £140 victim surcharge.
At Everett's sentencing hearing the court heard that Liz Cummins and Kelly Cameron were quoted £113,000 to rectify work valued at £18,500 and deemed "fundamentally unsafe".
Ms Cummins used an inheritance to fund work in Garland Street, Bury St Edmunds, including a loft room for her twin daughters, after meeting Everett through a friend.
The family moved into a rental property after a £55,000 contract was agreed in early 2015, but had to extend the lease with work not finished by the completion date.
A structural engineer subsequently found the foundations laid over a well, while the removal of a tie beam had left the structure unsound.
In statements, read to the court the couple said the "catastrophic" effects of Everett's actions had put stress on their relationship and the lives of their children.
Ms Cameron, who borrowed £10,000 from her father for legal fees, described the "heartbreak" of feeling unsafe in the home she had lived in for 22 years.
Mitchell Cohen, for Everett, said his client had no previous convictions.
