Victims of rogue trader who caused 'nightmare' for customers tell of ruinous effect of shoddy work

People from Stockton, Billingham, Redcar, Ormesby, Norton, Loftus, North Yorkshire, County Durham, Sunderland and Leeds described how 41-year-old Christopher Newman’s actions affected them. After long delays, both to home renovations and the court case, they finally saw justice as he was jailed for four years and eight months at Teesside Crown Court.

Prosecutor John Crawford told of their ordeals with Newman’s company Hartburn Lofts and Extensions Ltd. One exasperated customer said her bathroom suite was wrongly demolished, asbestos left on a driveway and she had to borrow from her mother to meet money demands. She had a leaking roof, found a rat in her bedroom after an infestation due to inadequate draining, her marriage almost broke down and the family risked losing their home during a “nightmare” which cost them more than £55,000, the court heard.

Another customer, who paid over £45,000 and got an electric shock turning on the washing machine because of water damage from the poor work, described the experience as “sheer hell”. She said she felt “between a rock and a hard place” and that words could not describe the devastation to their lives.

One woman, who paid almost £50,000, said Newman had “stolen her life savings and left her in a house that isn’t fit to live in, facing a second winter in a freezing house”. She said she would have to take out a loan or mortgage to finish the work, ruining her retirement plans.

One paid over £105,000, had to pay nearly £13,000 to fix the inadequate roof and extension work and was left feeling scared and unsafe in her own home after an insecure tile blew off and smashed through the roof. Another couple had to remortgage to meet extra costs after work to add a second floor to a bungalow went wrong, the house was burgled after it was left insecure and their daughter had to live with grandparents for almost a year.

A mum-of-three spent all her grandfather’s inheritance on the work, saw a boiler condemned and had to share a bed with her daughter due to the disruption. She was promised a £32,000 refund which never materialised, while a £3,000 loft deposit was used to pay Newman’s wedding venue and his social media referred to an F1 race in Singapore, trips to Dubai and gambling.

One mum who paid over £17,000 for a loft extension said her children worried about losing the house and their eight-year-old son had to sleep on an airbed in his teenage sister’s bedroom during a build for which, as in other cases, Newman did not get the appropriate approvals. She later said: “Mr Newman has ripped us off.

“He was supposed to be the expert and we trusted him. I wish now that we had never met him.”

One customer paid almost £84,000 and was repeatedly invoiced for a job to convert an old pub into flats. He thought the work was going well, only to find it was a “fiction” and Redcar Council were boarding up the property. The pub owner had to sell at a loss as he faced council enforcement action and a £132,000 bill to finish the work, and was left in debt from loans and maxed-out credit cards.

One man stood on an empty site while Newman insisted over the phone there were tradesmen there. He said his business collapsed because of the disastrous build, leading to his 10 employees losing their jobs, he lost his life savings and had to start all over again at 53 with his property in negative equity.

Newman, of no fixed address, admitted four charges of fraud and 10 of breaching unfair trading regulations. He wrote in a letter to the court: “I know I’ve let people down and I’m so sorry that I’ve let everything go so badly wrong.”