Builder accused of fraud told 'barefaced lies'

Builder Mark Killick has been on trial since May

A builder accused of defrauding customers of more than £2m in the space of two years, told "barefaced and obvious lies," a court has been told.

Mark Killick, 56, from Paulton in Somerset, took thousands of pounds upfront from clients across the west but failed to complete work at their homes before disappearing, the jury has heard.

He is on trial at Bristol Crown Court and denies 46 counts of fraud between December 2019 and November 2021. Mr Killick claims that he intended to complete the work but was unable to for reasons outside of his control.

In his closing speech following a three-month trial, prosecutor James Tucker alleged the defendant ran his business, TD Cole Ltd, like a Ponzi scheme.

The jury has been told Mr Killick has previous convictions for fraud dating back to 2008, relating to him taking money for kitchens that were never completed.

Mr Tucker said that because the defendant used the aliases Mark Jenkins and Marc Cole, it was hard for customers to find his history of fraud.

"This was planned. He knew what he was doing," Mr Tucker said.

Mark Killick denies 46 fraud charges

He told the court that Mr Killick knew when he took money from customers he had no means of completing the work and he had no intention of doing so.

Mr Tucker said: "He is thoroughly dishonest. Not a little bit, a bit of a sales pitch, an exaggeration persuading you of the benefits of a new kitchen, or with tales of all the good work he's done in the past.

"We say he is telling barefaced and obvious lies."

'Good intentions'

Robin Shellard, for Mr Killick, denied that he intended to defraud customers.

He said that the 46 counts Mr Killick is charged with make up only a quarter of his company's income, and that nearly 90% of turnover went on legitimate business expenses.

"Ask yourself this - why defraud these 46 people and not the others? Because this was only a quarter of the business that he had," Mr Shellard said.

At the start of the trial, jurors were told Mr Killick had defrauded customers of "the equivalent of a lottery win", but Mr Shellard said the prosecution had produced no evidence he was living a Champagne lifestyle.

"We have in the agreed facts a few nights at the Celtic Manor Hotel for a few hundred pounds. As Mr Killick said, it's hardly Hawaii.

"A view of the M4 is not Honolulu. That £2m lottery win really didn't exist," he said.

Mr Shellard ran through a number of counts to point out the amount of work that had been done, asking: "Where is the scam? Where is the dishonesty?"

He added: "Is the failure to complete work because he never intended to complete it from the start or because as the number of plates that were spinning increased, one by one those plates started to slip off, regardless of the good intentions he had at the start?

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions and by the start of 2021 he is in a business hell."

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict later this week.

The trial continues.