BBC News Front Page “We paid our builder £44k – then he had us arrested”

Peter Cruickshank was instructed by Basildon Borough Council in the prosecution of Mr Steve Figg for numerous offences under the Building Act 1984, relating to unsafe, non-compliant, and substandard building work carried out at the home of Mr and Mrs Davies.

The case was a technical and detailed prosecution. Mr Figg was in due course charged with 12 offences, summarised as follows:

Charge 1: Failed to notify Basildon of stages of work;
Charge 2: Failed to install a suitable suspended floor;
Charge 3: Failed to install adequate cavity wall insulation;
Charge 4: Failed to install adequate insulation in the walls to insulate the property and provide resistance to moisture;
Charge 5: Failed to install adequate insulation in roof;
Charge 6: Failed, as Principal Contractor, to plan, manage and monitor building work during construction phase and failed to coordinate matters relating to building work;
Charge 7: Failed, as Principal Contractor, to demonstrate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary to do the works;
Charge 8: Failed to transfer load safely by failing to provide adequate support to the floor joints;
Charge 9: Failed to transfer load inadequate end bearings steel beams;
Charge 10: Contravened Compliance Notice requiring replacement of ground bearing slab with suspended floor slab;
Charge 11: Contravened Compliance notice dated 10 April 2024 requiring Mr Figg to remedy the defective installation of steel beam;
Charge 12: Contravened compliance notice dated 10 April 2024 (removal of load bearing internal wall).

One example of obviously unsafe work was the way in which Mr Figg had installed and propped up a steel beam. When plasterboard was removed exposing what lay underneath it, it showed a loose collection of blocks jumbled together providing the support for the steel beam.

Section 35 of the Building Act 1984, which provides for criminal offences of contravening building regulations, was recently amended by the Building Safety Act 2022, to increase the punishment from a fine to custody. As the explanatory notes to the Building Safety Act 2022 make clear, the changes

“follows Dame Judith Hackitt’s finding in her foreword to the Independent Report that one of the key issues underpinning the failure of the Building Safety Regulatory system that led to the Grenfell Tower fire was that there was “Inadequate regulatory oversight and enforcement… Where enforcement is necessary, it is often not pursued. Where it is pursued, the penalties are so small as to be an ineffective deterrent”.

At the first appearance of the case, Mr Figg pleaded guilty to all of the charges. That was of itself a successful reflection of the considerable work put in to the case by Basildon’s Building Control team, the legal team for the Council, and Peter Cruickshank.

Mr Figg was then sentenced by District Judge Williams in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on 23 April 2026. The Court found that Mr Figg’s culpability was very high, and the harm was high. Mr Figg was sentenced to a sentence of 18 months imprisonment, reduced to 12 months for his credit for a guilty plea. This was suspended for a period of 2 years and he was given activity requirements with Probation, a curfew, and a prohibition on carrying out such work as a Principal Contractor for 2 years. Mr Figg was ordered for pay £85,000 to Mr and Mrs Davies by way of compensation.

The case made the press in several articles, in particular because of the harrowing accounts of the householders Mr and Mrs Davies: ‘We paid our builder £44k then he had us arrested’ – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg09n7gj3lo; and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rxelk8gl2o, becoming at one point one of the “Most Read” articles across the BBC.

Peter was instructed by Elizabeth Lanlehin of Basildon Borough Council’s legal services.

For BBC News article, please see here