Billee Hopkinson: Sentencing for convicted rogue trader is delayed

Billee Hopkinson, 35, of Tag Lane, Ingol, was set to appear at Preston Crown Court his morning to get his punishment for three counts of breaching The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act 2008.

CLICK here for Billee’s side of the story prior to his guilty plea

The penalty for such offences is to be a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

But the date has now been shifted to May 19 at Preston Crown Court. No explanation for the delay has been given.

What did he do?

Hopkinson, a father-of-three, initially appeared at Preston Magistrates Court on January 16, 2023, where he pleaded guilty to three charges.

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.

Unfinished projects

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 mum-of-three Katie Sowerby says she lost £17,000.

Following Hopkinson’s appearance at Magistrates in January, Katie Sowerby, the victim from the second charge, said: “The charges won't get me my money back or take away the pain he has caused my family and others but people will now see him for what we all found him out to be last year.”

What did Billee say?

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