A MAN claims "cowboy" builders wrecked his home after he paid them £30,000 from his mum's will.
Dominic Gauden said he spent every last penny left to him by his mother on the restoration of his Victorian house in Moseley, Birmingham.
Now he can't afford a new headstone for her grave, reports Birmingham Live.
Dominic claims the men took the roof off the 124-year-old property - even though he "only wanted a leak fixed".
He said scaffolding was put up around the house - and remained in place for three-and-a-half years.
The actual work took less than a month, Dominic alleges.
'GAPING HOLE'
He says he has now been left with a gaping hole where the back bay window once was and no garage doors .
Dominic, 51, further claims the workmen failed to install guttering, which led to flooding that caused the ceiling to collapse.
Debris damaged a piano and valuable rugs and the property was so severely flooded the fire brigade had to be called, he says.
I have spent all that my mum left me in her will. All the money my mum saved up and it’s just gone. I’m in a daze
Dominic GaudenDominic says he's been signed off work with depression for the last year since the alleged botched job.
He claims that his judgement was clouded by grief over his mother's death and the depression medication when he decided to broker the deal for the work with a pub acquaintance.
He told Birmingham Live that he feared his late mother, acclaimed animal artist Wendy Gauden, who died five years ago at the age of 75, would be let down.
COLLAPSED CEILING
The railway museum volunteer said: “I have spent all that my mum left me in her will.
“All the money my mum saved up and it’s just gone. I’m in a daze.
“I feel ashamed and embarrassed about the whole thing. I blame myself for being talked into it.
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“Mum would be turning in her grave. She would never have allowed this to happen – she was assertive and strong-minded. I feel I have let her down.
“There are no light thoughts, only dark ones. I’ve tried to block it out with anti-depressants. I'm gutted.”
Dominic later contacted West Midlands Police and Action Fraud, a public body set up to probe allegations of malpractice, but admits he should have acted sooner.
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