A terminally ill man fell victim to photovoltaic panel fraudsters

A woman says she feels “stupid” after being duped out of £1.3 million by a renewable energy company involved in a scam.

Janet Roberts and her late husband Neil installed a solar panel on their Measham home for £9,450 from Sunpower Renewables, despite other reputable companies saying their roof couldn’t support it.

The company then used the identity of Neil, who had died from a disease affecting his organs, to take out a bogus loan which they were told was a government grant for a heat pump that they believed he did not want.

The couple only realized the truth when the loan company called them asking to arrange the first repayment.

Janet, 70, said: “My late husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness and we were a bit depressed.

“We talked about solar panels. A company came to look at the roof and they said forget about it, we had an old house and it wasn’t suitable.

“Then we got a cold call from Sunpower who said their panels were lighter.

“I know it’s easy to say it now, but I didn’t like him right away. Neil was vulnerable and a bit naive, interested in his illness and talking about football and so on. He really talked.

The couple had to extend their mortgage to afford the panel, which they did under the false promise that the panel would pay for itself by generating power for the national grid.

The company then contacted them again, offering a heat pump system for £13,500, partly paid for by a non-existent government grant, which they declined.

However, Sunpower deposited the loan into the Roberts’ account and took the money from them.

Janet said: “A month or two later we got a call asking how we proposed repaying the loan.

“I felt absolute panic. It was scary.

“I just feel stupid, really, really stupid, for falling for that vulgar salesman. I think he just caught us in a crisis in our lives, which is no excuse.

“I would tell anyone in our situation to get several quotes, don’t just go by the first quote, but research the company a bit. We didn’t do any of that.”

In addition to the renewable energy company, a second company, Proshield, was set up to fraudulently sell home security systems to the same database of vulnerable home owners in the East Midlands.

One of the couples who purchased the system for their Kegworth home under false pretences was Nick and Rose O’Ballance.

However, after a series of problems, the couple eventually uninstalled it themselves, pulling it off the wall and placing it in a cardboard box in the garage.

They also agreed to install a bathroom, but this was never done.

Nick, 69, told the BBC: “They found us while canvassing. They had a company called Proshield and said we qualified at a reduced cost because it was in the area.

“It would also be cheaper because they planned to use our house as an advertisement for commercial purposes.

“They said it was a top-of-the-line system that usually costs a fortune. It’s the kind of system that footballers and superstars have at home and which ensures immediate response.

“They had fancy printed brochures and were very persuasive.

He continued: “The price was £3,495 and this includes five years of maintenance and monitoring. We filled out the documents.

“All that happened was that they came to install the alarm, which probably took about two hours.

“All he did was attach the boxes to the wall and connect the filter to the phone, just like you would with an internet router. There was no permanent wiring, instead they had to come in every six months to replace the batteries.

“When it blew up, there was a lot of noise inside, but outside you could just think, ‘what’s going on there?’

“It took less than five minutes to dismantle it and now it sits in a box in the back of the garage.”

Rose O’Ballance said: “From the beginning they seemed really difficult to contact, they didn’t return our calls. We thought there was something wrong with it.

“I went to the office and talked to the receptionist and she more or less said they don’t work there, they don’t answer the phone, they only come for the mail.

“She said a lot of people had called.

“I was absolutely unconscious. I really panicked. It was our money that we saved so that we could enjoy it. We didn’t go on vacation so we could have a system.

“We just had to show that it was an alarm that we couldn’t use.

“They even wanted extra money to keep the alarm going when the damn thing went off in the middle of the night. People on the street were going crazy.

“I was absolutely furious. You think that you are not stupid, that you are quite intelligent, but not yet in your stupidity.

“But it really looks so good, the brochures show, everything is so well done.

“Until you realize you’ve been scammed, you don’t think it will ever happen to you.”