Billee Hopkinson: Preston trader jailed for 20 months after scamming victims out of more than £63k

Billee Hopkinson, 35, was the sole company director of Ultra Restore Limited, a home improvements business, from its creation in 2013 until it was wound up on December 30 2021.

This prosecution came about following an investigation into consumer complaints received by Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards.

According to Lancashire County Council, his fraudulent activity had such a dire impact for one victim that she had to miss out on a transplant.

Hopkinson’s time in court

Hopkinson of Tag Lane in Preston, first pleaded guilty to three charges from The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act 2008 at Preston Magistrates Court on January 16.

The first two counts were for knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice which contravenes the requirements of professional diligence under regulation 3(3)(a), between the period of August 31 2020 to July 17 2021, and September 6 2021 to November 30 2021 respectively.

The third was for engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission under regulation 6 on January 24 2022.

Hopkinson was due to appear at Preston Crown Court for a sentence hearing on March 17, but it was postponed for unknown reasons.

At Hopkinson’s sentence hearing on May 19, Preston Crown Court heard the facts of the case, and the judge adjourned the sentencing until Thursday, May 25, when he was then handed a 20 month jail sentence, and was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.

Stories from Hopkinson’s court case

In early 2020, one customer applied for a grant from South Ribble Borough Council to convert her garage into a bedroom and wet room for her disabled daughter at a cost of £17,500. This was due to begin in August, to be completed by Christmas but she had concerns with the standard and amount of time it was taking.

Despite Hopkinson having received £13,500, there were a number of major issues with the work including a shower tray and a standard height sink installed, which were unsuitable for her daughter to use with a wheelchair.

South Ribble Borough Council sent out a building control officer to inspect the work and he discovered issues, including that the bathroom was not waterproofed, the ramp and doors were unsuitable, and deemed the work unsatisfactory. The remaining grant amount was put towards rectification work by other tradespeople.

The impact was described as 'substantial' on the family as the customer's daughter had to cancel a transplant.

In June 2021, another customer, staff nurse Katie Sowerby, enquired through the Trustatrader website, where she had seen that Ultra Restore had 5 star reviews, and was quoted £24,000 for a loft conversion.

The mum of three shelled out £17,550 in instalments between September and October but the work was slow and so badly done that it was even causing damage to her neighbour's properties. In November 2021, Preston City Council Building Control inspected the property and called the work to a halt.

In December 2021, Katie was told that Ultra Restore Limited was going into liquidation. At this stage, Trading Standards became involved and instructed an independent surveyor to inspect the work in February 2022.

The surveyor said that the work done had caused an extensive amount of water to enter the property and caused internal damage to ceilings in main bedroom and bathroom, which would need repairing and rooms redecorating. He found that the roofing works completed by the contractor were incomplete and defective throughout.

The surveyor summarised: "The works have been so poorly executed that one could arrive at the conclusion that the person carrying out this work possessed no knowledge or skills in not only construction work but general building standards."

All of the work carried out would require redoing, and on top of this, "the cost of rectifying the damaged and defective work will be more than the monies currently paid out," he said.

In August 2021, another customer contacted Ultra Restore Ltd after seeing them on Trustatrader.com.

Hopkinson priced a three-part extension at £78,000, and said he would start on November 1 2021, with the first phase of work being finished before Christmas. She paid £28,200 in instalments to Ultra Restore Limited's business account.

Ultra Restore Ltd went into liquidation in December but the customer was not informed of this and was asked to pay a further £4,000 into a different bank account in Hopkinson's own name. Shortly after she had paid this, she found out that the firm had folded.

This customer says she does not believe much work has been done. She says that the orangery extension at the back, foundations and drainage were done, and partial walls have been put up for the kitchen, but they appear wobbly and were built with non-matching brick, so will need to come down.

Background to the case

Hopkinson first featured in the Post when a former customer, Tony Carey, said he had handed over £6,200 ahead of a project on his house, before Ultra Restore pulled down large parts of his existing extension but never returned to finish the job.

Since then, two other disgruntled customers came forward. Anup Raj says he spent £26,000 on unfinished construction work before Ultra Restore went into a liquidation on December 31 2021, and Katie Sowerby lost £17,000, as mentioned above.

When confronted by the Post last year, Hopkinson said he had been unfairly criticised and was the victim of rising costs in the building trade, which meant he had to pass on extra costs to customers after agreeing an original price.

At the time, Hopkinson said: “I’m a victim of circumstances, I’ve been open for 10 years or so, and every review was perfect until lockdown.”

Following Hopkinson’s appearance at Magistrates in January, Tony told the Post: “I’m pleased to see Billee is being prosecuted, I think he should be forced to sell his house to repay the people he’s taken money from. Billee has no business being in the building trade.”

What does Lancashire County Council say?

Speaking after the case, County Councillor Michael Green, cabinet member for health and wellbeing said: “The Trading Standards team have put a lot of hard work in to investigate this case and we’re pleased that justice has been done.

"Rogue traders can cause mental anguish and distress to their victims and families, some of whom lose vast amounts of their savings for work that is poorly done or incomplete. This prosecution sends out a clear signal that we won’t tolerate rogue traders and scammers and we’ll do everything we can to stop them."

To report a rogue trader, contact the Trading Standards Service via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133.

Lancashire County Council’s Lancashire Safe Trader scheme lists details of reputable traders in the area at safetrader.org.uk