Trio sentenced after hundreds ripped off in fraud

One of the home security systems that were mis-sold by Proshield

Three people have been sentenced for their part in the running of two companies that ripped off hundreds of vulnerable and elderly people to the tune of £1.3m.

Sunpower Renewables was set up in 2014 after the names, addresses and phone numbers of 10,000 people living in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire were bought from a marketing firm by Robin MacDonald.

They then used cold-calling and "bullying" selling tactics to get people to buy solar panels and other products that were often unsafe, unsuitable and in some cases never installed.

MacDonald and two others were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.

MacDonald requested the list to be solely house owners aged 50 to 80 with good credit and “no Asian or foreign names” - with the firm then setting about cold-calling, visiting and selling solar panels, heat pumps and water heating systems.

Selling tactics were “bullying” and products were sometimes unsafe and unsuited to people’s properties, and often never installed at all.

Loans were fraudulently taken out in customer’s names, with the money arriving under the guise of government grants and then taken away by Sunpower - leaving their victims to pick up the repayments.

Following £1m worth of fraud through Sunpower, a second firm, Proshield, was set up to sell home security systems to the same database of older homeowners.

Misleading brochures and sales patter promised 24-hour security coverage, with 20-minute responses to activated alarms from the emergency services and private security.

But instead a firm was contracted to make a call to a nominated keyholder only when alarms went off - a service worth £30-a-year, instead of the coverage worth £438 a year that was promised.

Robin MacDonald was jailed for seven years

Sentencing, Recorder Penelope Stanistreet-Keen said “people who bought alarms could have died waiting for help that wasn’t coming”.

MacDonald, 44, of Park Road, Bretby, Burton-on-Trent, was described as having a “leading role” in the operation of both firms.

He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for four counts of fraudulent trading and conspiracy to trade fraudulently and disqualified from being director of a company for ten years.

Roy Hancher, 58, of Light Ash Lane, Coven, Wolverhampton, who was involved in the day-to-day operation Proshield, was sentenced to one year and eight months in jail suspended for 18 months, 12 days community service, and disqualified from being a director of a company for six years

Nicola Mather, 44, of Robert Adam Road, Derby, had allowed “hundreds of thousands of pounds to wash through her accounts” for the firm.

She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and 200 hours of community service

All three will be subject to a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing to take place later this year.

Trading Standards were praised for their “meticulous” investigation.

James Delaney, team manager at Trading Standards’ East Midlands investigation team, said: “This was a significant and complex inquiry. The investigation itself probably took three or four years.

“There were about 300 victims that we spoke to that featured in the actual trial.

“In order for consumers to protect themselves we’d always encourage people not to engage in cold calls. Always do your research, don’t feel pressured to do deals on the spot.”

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