Widow speaks out after £7,000 loft insulation scam

All Pamela Hanham wanted to do was care for her husband Ron and keep him warm at their home.

But put under pressure when she was cold-called about loft insulation the 69-year-old, of Waterlooville, agreed to pay for unfit work.

After losing £6,898 she is speaking out now three men have been sentenced at Southampton Crown Court. Her husband has since died.

Pamela said: ‘I was very stupid but I do feel I was taken advantage of. I had been nursing my husband who was effectively bed-ridden for the last 18-months of his life.

‘One of the symptoms of his condition was that he felt the cold terribly.

‘Normally I wouldn’t have been caught out, but it was a stressful situation and I wanted to help my husband feel more comfortable.’

Working under the names Energy Foam Seal Limited and Thermaroof Limited, the men targeted more than 30 vulnerable and elderly people across Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight in cold calls between December 2012 to September 2014.

Thirteen victims suffered a combined loss of £53,000, while a further 19 victims were stopped from making payments totalling £93,860.

Some of the victims were in Portsmouth and Havant.

Councillor Roy Perry, Leader of the County Council, said: “Helping elderly and vulnerable residents is a key focus for Trading Standards who recently prosecuted staff at two companies who made false and misleading claims to sell loft insulation foam, called Icynene, which was unsuitable and unnecessary for the victims’ roof spaces.

‘However, Trading Standards officers know this is not an isolated case and cold callers are targeting elderly and vulnerable people with a range of products they simply don’t need.’

Thermaroof company director Stephen Rosen, 47, from Wokingham, was given a two-year suspended sentence and 300 hours unpaid work.

He admitted two offences of participating in a fraudulent business and five offences of fraud by false representation.

Energy Foam Seal Limited salesman Gary Holzman, 41, of Bracknell, was given an 18-month suspended sentence and 200 hours community service after admitting eight offences of engaging in misleading commercial practice.

The company director, James Dellaway, 36, of Bournemouth, was sentenced to a 12-month suspended sentence and 100 hours unpaid work after admitting engaging in unfair commercial practice.