Rogue trader's victim 'cried for a fortnight'

Annette Wilkinson and her family were put at risk for six months after Arnold's dodgy work

A victim of a rogue trader said she cried for a fortnight every time she walked into the unsafe kitchen he built.

Christopher John Arnold, of Theale, Berkshire, was jailed for a year after he was prosecuted for sub-standard work at four homes.

Annette Wilkinson, from Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, hired the 39-year-old in April 2023, but discovered six months after he finished that he had failed to earth the electrical system properly.

"I had hosted my family for Christmas in 2023," she said. "He had put my family in great danger for six months. It was shocking."

She found Arnold's company – registered as ACL Building and Maintenace [sic] Ltd – online and he outsourced some of the early work.

But problems arose when he started the work himself, Mrs Wilkinson said, and she started to doubt his methods as he began working on her roof.

Mrs Wilkinson raised concerns about how Arnold was building a roof and he got aggressive

She consulted a local roofer who told her Arnold's methods were wrong – but on being confronted with her doubts he got "aggressive", Mrs Wilkinson said.

"He threw his toys out of the pram and said 'if you want to employ your roofer, you do that'," he said.

"At this point I had invested so much in him that I thought I can't just chuck him out."

He eventually completed the job and Mrs Wilkinson said the work appeared to have been done well.

But Arnold had forged safety certificates, which Mrs Wilkinson found were counterfeit when she contacted authorities herself.

"That's when I knew I had a fraudster, a criminal builder, on board. My heart sunk. I cried for two weeks every time I walked into that build. I was beside myself. I was grieving," she said.

Arnold was jailed after his shoddy work was exposed

But Mrs Wilkinson added she "nearly fell off [her] chair" when she was told Arnold would be prosecuted for work on her house alongside three others.

"I'm glad we got the sentencing out the way and he's being punished for his crime, which is a relief, but I must admit it left me quite numb for some strange reason," Mrs Wilkinson said.

"It's been two years of suffering severe anxiety, health issue, stress, sleepless nights."

Arnold already had earlier convictions from 2021 after three victims were left with cables in the walls of their homes.

He was banned from being the a company director for 10 years following the most recent sentencing on 4 June.

Matt Allwright, who has presented shows including Rogue Traders and Doorbell Detectives for the BBC, said cases like Arnold's can have a real impact on their victims.

"It's tragic because, yes, the money is substantial but, over and above that, it leaves the homeowner with this terrible feeling that their home is not their own any more, that they can't trust anyone anymore and therefore their world can really diminish," he said.