News Builder receives suspended sentence for defrauding his customers DMITRY KALINOVSKY / SHUTTERSTOCK A builder was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for three years, at Lisburn Magistrates Court in December, for taking money for building materials that he failed to produce. He was also ned 250 for failing to complete work to a professional standard, and ordered to pay a total of 2,350 in compensation. The case was brought by the Trading Standards Service (TSS) of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. The builder James Gordon, 67, of Killyleagh, Co Down had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to charges under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. The court hearing was the result of an investigation by the TSS into a complaint from a couple who had engaged Gordon to build a two-storey extension to their property in Lower Ballinderry, Co Antrim. Gordon failed to carry out the building work to a professional standard. He agreed a price to build the extension, as per the plans, within 12 weeks. In reality, Gordon left the job substantially unnished after 17 months 68 weeks having received the bulk of the agreed price. An independent survey commissioned by the TSS estimated that Gordon had left more than half of the work uncompleted for example, windows had not been tted. Gordon also received money for materials that were never produced. For instance, he received 850 to buy roof tiles, but the tiles were never supplied and the roof was left unprotected over the winter. The independent report estimated that it would take about 19,000 to complete the extension as it stood. Eventually, the couple had to employ someone else to complete the work. Kevin McNamara, of TSS, said: Looking at this case, it appears Mr Gordons main concern was to get as much money up front as he could and, to do this, he kept stringing his clients along with false promises about the supply of materials and completion dates for the job. The victims in this case suffered a great deal of nancial and emotional stress as a result of Mr Gordons actions. TOXIC BOOZE COULD KILL, WARNS LGA teams across the UK. Hundreds of bottles of fake booze, including whisky, have been rounded up in raids on pubs and shops, leading to licences being revoked and heavy fines. Unlicensed dial a drink delivery services through which customers order alcoholic drinks over the phone have also increased fears of dangerous and illicit beverages being sold on. Two men in County Durham were recently sentenced to 12-month community orders for selling fake goods and unlicensed drinks, after promoting their illegal service on Facebook. The Local Government Association, which represents nearly 400 councils in England and Wales, is calling on shoppers to be aware of what they buy and from where. TIM P. WHITBY / GETTY IMAGES Rogue dial a drink firms could be selling potentially dangerous bottles of toxic fake vodka and other alcohol, which could blind or even kill those who drink it. Dangerous levels of solvents, such as isopropanol commonly found in industrial cleaning agents have been identified during tests conducted on counterfeit bottles of alcohol seized by trading standards Mrs Brown would not find this funny! A counterfeiter selling phoney DVDs including ones of hit comedy series Mrs Browns Boys has been sentenced to three years imprisonment after a two-week trial in December. Trevor Arthur Pegg, 61, from Epsom in Surrey, was convicted at Guildford Crown Court on 13 counts relating to the running of a fraudulent business selling counterfeit DVDs on eBay and Play.com The investigation into Pegg was carried out by officers from Surrey Trading Standards, supported by evidence provided by officers from the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact). The case culminated in the execution of a warrant at Peggs home, in May 2013, assisted by officers from Surrey Police. Pegg ran an online shop on eBay and Play.com selling counterfeit DVDs that he imported from China in large quantities. Titles sold included Disneys Little Mermaid and box sets of television programmes, including Mrs Browns Boys and Borgen. During the trial, the court heard how Pegg had received a number of comments from his customers claiming that the DVDs were fake, but he continued to deal in them. He refunded any customers who complained to maintain a high positive feedback rating, but made no changes to stock that he bought and sold. The jury heard that the business turned over about 600,000 in three years, but Pegg failed to disclose any of this to Her Majestys Revenue and Customs. In relation to the quantity of fake DVDs being sold, His Honour Judge Robert Fraser noted that the numbers of DVDs were, in any view, significant. When Pegg had three separate consignments intercepted by customs officers working in partnership with Fact rather than heed the warnings, HHJ Fraser added, he displayed an apparent indifference to the cease and desist letters. Pegg will now be subject to confiscation proceedings, to recover the proceeds of his criminal activity, at a separate hearing later this year. Creator of Mrs Browns Boys , Brendan OCarroll, and his wife Jennifer Gibney, attend the British Comedy Awards in London last December Email disclaimers should be banned, says MP Sir Alan Duncan MP has invoked a Ten Minute Rule in the House of Commons, asking members to ban open-text email disclaimers from government correspondence. The bill would require all government departments, agencies and councils and all UK limited companies to do away with openformat disclaimers. In the House, Duncan said: Frankly, disclaimers are not worth the paper they are unnecessarily printed on. They attempt, unilaterally, to create a contract between the sender and the recipient, without asking for the consent of the recipient. They aim to scare the unintended and unaware recipient of a misplaced email into doing what is asked of them, despite there being no obligation to do so. He cited an example of good sense in The Economist, which noted that, in 2011, the European Commission had already declared that any attempt to impose a contractual obligation on a consumer who has not had the opportunity freely to negotiate it, must be struck out by the courts. Duncan added: An email disclaimer is a perfect example of such an attempt, particularly as the vast majority come after, not before, the body of the message.