Trading Standards lose against Kitchens
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2804973/5m-kitchen-trial-collapses.html
A MILLIONAIRE tycoon nicknamed "The Kitchen Gangster" walked free from court today after a huge fraud trial dramatically collapsed — leaving taxpayers with a bill of £5million.
One of Britain's most senior trading standards officers was also suspended from his post after a judge condemned him over claims he deliberately targeted Vance Miller when customers complained about the quality of his kitchen units.
Miller, 44, had been arrested and charged with fraud in 2006 after 130 officers raided his factory in Oldham, Greater Manchester, whilst investigating allegations his kitchen supply firm was the most complained about in Britain.
It was alleged thousands of customers had grumbled to trading standards officials nationwide about the shoddy workmanship of kitchen units supplied by the father-of-one's company.
Heavy-handed
It was said Miller's company claimed to have 'real' and 'solid' wood kitchens at bargain prices — but instead fitted them with cheap chipwood and MDF products.
But Judge Jonathan Foster QC threw out fraud allegations against Miller who claimed Tony Allen, head of trading standards at Oldham, had wasted taxpayers money staging a "personal vendetta against him".
The trial was due to last six months and was hailed as the largest, most expensive fraud case ever brought by a Trading Standards authority in the UK, but collapsed in its 14th week.
Manchester Crown Court heard there were only 0.29 per cent of wood complaints to total sales and less than four per cent of total complaints to total sales.
In dismissing the case against Miller and three business colleagues, Judge Foster labelled the raids on Miller's mill as "heavy handed and over-zealous", saying: "The decision to investigate was not based on any reliable material.
"Tony Allen's initial desire to close the business down coloured his thinking thereafter. It led him to lose his objectivity so that he did not give a fair and balanced approach to the issues and the evidence in the case.
"Regrettably I find myself unable to rely on his evidence."
The judge added: "The whole process was unfair to Vance Miller, his business and the co-defendants who in my opinion were wrongly joined in these charges."
Flamboyant Miller who has a house in a cemetery in Ramsbottom, Lancs, has been exposed on a series of TV shows including Watchdog, Rogue Traders, Britain's Worst and a BBC2 series called Notorious.
In 2003 he was jailed for nine months for ignoring a tough court order — the first imposed of its kind — which banned him from selling shoddy goods on "unfair" contracts.
But despite his notoriety Miller's business called Kitchens, based in Maple Mill, turns over £50m a year and is one of the largest kitchen retailers in the UK, alongside B&Q, Magnet and MFI, selling 400 kitchens a week.
Judge criticises trading standards boss Tony Allen
Vance Miller, 44, who ran a multi-million pound company, was accused of cheating customers by selling them supposedly high quality kitchens which were in fact made of chipboard and MDF.
But Judge Jonathan Foster QC threw the case against him out of court yesterday, saying it was “not based on any reliable material” but was instead driven by a personal desire to close Mr Miller’s business.
The prosecution was brought by Oldham Borough Council's trading standard's department, led by Tony Allen, following a counterfraud operation believed to the largest undertaken by trading standards officers in Britain.
Thousands of hours were spent interviewing more than 3,000 of Mr Miller's customers after 130 officers raided his business premises and home in November 2006, and 270,000 pages of documents were seized.
Mr Miller, from Ramsbottom, Lancashire, was charged with conspiracy to defraud following the investigation, alongside three colleagues.
But a catalogue of errors by the council meant the defendants could not receive a fair trial, the judge said at Manchester Crown Court.
Trading standards failed to carry out a single test purchase before the raid and only took one witness statement from a customer who lied about the amount he spent on the kitchen, inflating it by £10,000.
An expert paid by trading standards to evaluate the case also concluded that the kitchen descriptions were "reasonable", the court heard.
The trading standards boss admitted in court it was his "desire" to close the company down, contradicting his earlier evidence, Judge Foster said.
"The investigation was flawed from the start. Mr Allen's initial desire to close the business down coloured his thinking thereafter. It led him to lose his objectivity," he told the jurors before dismissing them.
Speaking outside court, Mr Miller said the council had tried to destroy his reputation. “The total cost has been £5 million, all to be paid by the public, us the people. There have been relentless disruptions and it is time it stopped,” he said.
A spokesman for Oldham Council said it had decided not to appeal against the judge’s decision and confirmed that a senior member of staff has been suspended pending the outcome of an independent inquiry into the case.