Jailed: Cowboy builder from Bicester who left a trail of destruction behind him

David McCallium was sentenced to two years and six months in prison at a hearing held at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (May 29).

Mcallium previously pleaded guilty to three charges of fraudulent trading, two charges of running a company while bankrupt and two charges of running a company in a name other than that on a bankruptcy order.

The Bicester man who ran several building companies was investigated by the county council’s trading standards team and the National Trading Standards following complaints from 12 members of the public.

McCallium, who traded under Aspect Home Improvements, Home Aspect, DM Restorations and Glazing and Unique Property Developments, has also been disqualified from directing a company for eight years.

The court also issued an order of confiscation to be carried out, but no recoverable amounts were identified.

During the investigation, trading standards discovered that considerable sums of money were paid for work ranging from window replacements to house extensions, which were either partially completed to a poor standard or left uncompleted and the trader uncontactable.

They also found that false statements were made by McCallium about liaising with building control or other agencies, being a member of trade associations and using false names.

This caused several customers considerable amounts of distress and left them forced to pay extra to get the partially completed work completed, often costing thousands of pounds.

The customers were unaware that McCallium had been declared bankrupt and should not have been running a business.

Cllr Jenny Hannaby, cabinet member for community wellbeing and safety, said: “The vast majority of Oxfordshire’s builders complete their work on time and to their customers’ satisfaction. When this is not the case and traders take money for rushed bodge jobs, then our trading standards team are here to protect residents from the actions of rogue traders.

“These customers have been left in a stressful situation and considerably out of pocket due to the actions of Mr McCallium and in some cases has taken years to put the situation right.”