A Derby builder who took more than £200,000 from homeowners while knowing his company could not pay its debts has been jailed.
Michael Haslam ran M&J Builders Limited when it was insolvent, taking money upfront from homeowners and delivering as little work as he could get away with. His victims, who often found his company through adverts in local magazines, paid thousands of pounds for home improvements between 2020 and 2022. However, they were left with dangerous structures, no running water, and bills they could not afford to fix.
In the same period, money from the accounts was spent on cash withdrawals, Amazon and eBay purchases, and payments to Haslam’s own family. Haslam, of Oaklands Avenue, Littleover, pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulent trading in May this year following investigations by the Insolvency Service.
The 74-year-old was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at the same court on Wednesday 1 July. He was also disqualified as a company director for the maximum period of 15 years.
Victims
His first victim was a woman from Darley Abbey who bought a property she intended to renovate for her retirement. She paid his company more than £150,000 in the first half of 2021 but received just £40,000 worth of work. No site manager ever appeared despite one being promised, and work stopped in July of that year with her property unfinished and strewn with waste.
She was forced to spend a further £18,000 clearing the site before hiring a new builder to complete the project.
In a victim impact statement, she said she felt “completely distraught” when she realised her money had gone.
She said: “I felt angry, bitter, and frankly shocked that someone could take advantage of me in that way. I have lost confidence in myself and trust in others. And I have lost the retirement I had planned and worked so hard for. What happened was not an honest mistake or a business failure. It was a pattern of behaviour that left me with a derelict home, enormous financial losses, and long-lasting emotional harm.”
Haslam’s second victim paid £47,760 for a single storey extension and garage refurbishment before work stopped in June 2022. The victim said that the project left her home unsafe and without running water for seven months. When Haslam returned to site in Allestree the following month, he demanded a further £6,600 to restart work, which she paid, but no work ever followed.
She was forced to hire a new builder just to make her home habitable and has been unable to complete the original project after running out of funds. The victim said Haslam repeatedly lied, shifted the blame onto her, and even made her question her own sanity.
A third victim paid £12,080 in advance for a kitchen renovation, with work beginning in May 2022. Workers arrived without tools and the job was left unfinished in July, with windows and doors paid for but never actually ordered. A new builder brought in to complete the work found that some of what had been done failed to meet safety standards, with the cost of putting it right funded by borrowing against the mortgage. She said that she still reflects in “horror” at choosing Haslam’s company for her project, describing him as a “pathological liar.”
A further two of Haslam’s victims came from Mickleover. The first agreed a quote of £18,300 for work on her family home. Work began in March 2022 but was plagued by delays before stopping altogether in August. The family later discovered that a window they had paid for had not even been ordered, despite Haslam blaming manufacturing delays. Council inspectors warned the botched work may need demolishing entirely but the family had already taken out a loan and could not afford to start again.
A mental health nurse agreed a price of £32,100 for a single storey extension, signing the contract just days after Haslam had been professionally advised his company was insolvent. She paid £35,880 in total after being told weekly payments would speed up the work, but doors and windows invoiced in May were never installed. The victim said Haslam left her family without a safe fire exit or secure door, forcing them to borrow money from family for security cameras just to feel safe at home.
Cash withdrawals, Amazon and eBay
Insolvency Service investigations uncovered almost £400,000 paid from the M&J Builders Limited business account under the reference “MG Haslam Expenses”. A £75,000 loan received by the company in October 2020 was gone within weeks and a further £63,055 was identified in cash withdrawals. Investigators also discovered that a personal account showed £164,229 in cash withdrawals, nearly £19,000 spent on Amazon and eBay, and £77,376 paid to the couple’s daughter. This was the same account some customers were told to pay into. Large cash withdrawals were frequently made from both the business and personal accounts within minutes of each other at the same ATM.
Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Fraud is not a victimless crime. Hearing how Michael Haslam has ruined his victims’ properties really brings home the human cost of what he did. Every single one of his victims would not have gone anywhere near him had they known the true state of his company’s finances. Fraudulent trading is one of the most serious offences the Insolvency Service investigates, and we will continue to pursue predatory fraudsters like Michael Haslam who exploit innocent people.”
