A couple have described how their lives were turned into a 'complete nightmare' by a cowboy builder who ruined their home and then had them arrested for harassment when they begged him to rectify the situation.
Four police officers arrived at Lucy and Rob Davies' residence and took them to a police station, where they were detained for 22 hours before authorities acknowledged they had committed no wrongdoing.
The horrified parents of three children had spent weeks asking builder Steve Figg to finish the work at their four-bedroom detached house in Basildon, Essex, when they found themselves at the centre of a criminal investigation.
They have spoken out about their ordeal after Figg, 35, admitted 22 breaches of building regulations and received a suspended 12-month jail term, along with an order to pay £85,000 in compensation.
The judge branded the defendant a cowboy builder and described his work as 'unsafe, badly executed and repeatedly non-compliant with building regulations'.
The rear extension to the Davies' home, intended to replace an old conservatory with a kitchen and open-plan living area, was so hazardous that the first floor was at risk of collapse.
They had no drinking water or back doors, rats infested the exposed property and 'terrorised' their children, and the foundations were ultimately condemned.
Yet it was they who were arrested after Figg, who they claimed cited cancer and other health issues to justify delays, complained to police that they were hounding him to complete the job and even told officers he wanted to kill the couple.
Mrs Davies, 38, who was on maternity leave when she was arrested and spent a night apart from her infant son for the first time while in a police cell, is now being treated for PTSD.
She told the Daily Mail: 'He should [have served time] but because he had children I think that kept him out of prison.'
Her husband added they had been through a 'complete nightmare', saying: 'Being arrested following the baseless allegations made by Mr Figg is something that continues to affect me deeply.
'Despite the fact that he had already caused significant damage to our home and drained our life savings, he then went on to portray us as the perpetrators while casting himself as the victim.
'He even went so far as to make threats to the police against both me and Lucy.'
The chaotic and stressful project cost them £75,000 in total, including £28,000 on remedial work and £3,000 on legal fees.
The couple bought their dream home in June 2023 and appointed Figg Construction to do the work towards the end of the year after spotting adverts online with positive reviews and photos of previous projects.
'Before we entered into the contract Steve came round. He was well-dressed, he seemed genuine,' said Mrs Davies.
'He said he had an Army background which was where he had picked up his skills, although we've since been told that wasn't true.'
The estimate was for £54,000 and work began in October – although the team of contractors they understood would appear never materialised, and only Figg turned up.
By early December, the couple started to have grave concerns as a skip to remove rubble and other refuse failed to arrive, their old conservatory was left leaning precariously against their fence, and promised brickwork failed to appear.
They approached Basildon Council's building control team who inspected the site and halted the work before imposing enforcement notices to bring it up to standard.
'The foundation was deemed unsafe after they dug down and everything on top had to come down,' Mrs Davies said.
'Figg took out a load-bearing wall and a steel beam holding up the top of the house had been put on a plank of wood and could have come down any time. The bedroom floor had sunk.
'Water pipes weren't put in correctly which would have caused drainage issues, there was no running drinking water and there were rats because there were no external doors.
'Our daughter didn't want to live here because of the infestation and she went to live with my mum.'
The couple, who both work for a global tech firm in the financial sector, said they were 'ghosted' for two months by Figg on a WhatsApp group they had set up for the project.
They were arrested on the day he was meant to have acted on a compliance notice issued by the council.
'My husband was at home and he was on a client call when four officers in two police cars turned up,' said Mrs Davies.
'I was on maternity leave but I was on a "keep in touch" day, so I was in the office for the first time in nine months.
'My neighbour phoned me and said my husband was being carted out of the house in handcuffs.
'I managed to speak to one of the officers on my neighbour's phone and they told me to come to the station.'
Describing their treatment at Grays police station, she added: 'We were put in front of a custody sergeant and told we'd been arrested for harassment.
'Our mobile phones were seized, my bag taken, we were fingerprinted, photographs were taken and a full DNA swab done. We were treated like criminals.
'We were already logged into the system because of the case [involving Figg] but Essex Police didn't look that up.
'It was only in the police interview which was 20 hours after the arrest that the duty solicitor basically shouted at the officer that there were serious failings.'
Mrs Davies' mother had been looking after the children as they both worked that day and had to keep them overnight.
'My youngest was still breastfeeding at that time. It was my first night away from him,' she said.
'We were under pressure as a family, our home was completely ruined and on top of that and financial ruin we had to get a defence solicitor to prove we weren't the criminals.'
The couple – who were on bail for six months – said they later received a formal apology after the force reviewed its handling of the case.
Their desperate situation finally turned a corner in September last year when the council's building control team served a summons on Figg, of Stanford-le-Hope.
He admitted the string of offences during a hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates Court in January this year and returned there last week to be sentenced.
Prosecutor Peter Cruickshank told the hearing: 'He [Figg] not only downed tools and walked away but he got the police involved.'
Figg, who represented himself, told the court: 'I'm not a liar, I'm not a conman. I made mistakes and I am sorry.'
He also denied being a 'cowboy builder' but District Judge Christopher Williams told him: 'Is there really any other description of the situation?
'This is the situation you read about in the news and think "How can somebody be so incompetent?"'
The court heard that Figg was under investigation for alleged offences against four other victims.
As well as the suspended jail term he was ordered to wear an electronic tag for six months.
But the Davies were frustrated to learn that it would be removed for a week in June as he had a pre-booked holiday abroad.
'That was annoying. If he was in prison, he wouldn't be allowed out for a week,' Mrs Davies complained.
She also revealed how Figg tried to block them from attending both court hearings, citing the harassment claim he had made against them.
'The judge said "You're not on trial here. Just to remind you, you've pleaded guilty",' she said.
Mr and Mrs Davies, whose daughter is now 17 and whose sons are aged seven and two, had to wait for the compliance notices to end before they could appoint someone else to build their extension.
The work, which was meant to take 12 weeks, was finally completed in December last year.
Mrs Davies said: 'I was diagnosed with PTSD last year. I lost touch with how to manage my anxiety. I had time off work and have had medication and counselling.
'From a relationship point of view, it tested us. We were both dealing with it while Rob was holding down a full-time job and I was caring for a baby and the other children.'
Despite the trauma, she said the family had no plans to move elsewhere as they are 'learning to love' the home now it is how they planned.
Other alleged victims have yet to see justice, however.
One, Gemma Hemmings, 40, claims Figg turned up at her home in Leigh-on-Sea and used a sledgehammer and chainsaw to destroy a garden office he had been paid almost £100,000 to build.
It followed a dispute over the final payment which she and her husband, Steve, 38, withheld to get him to fix substandard work.
'We watched while he destroyed everything with a big smile on his face. It was terrifying,' she told the BBC.
Another alleged victim, 41-year-old insurance broker Nick Marns, said he was left homeless and suffered a mental breakdown over work to double the size of his two-bedroom property, also in Leigh-on-Sea.
The work was described as 'the worst build he'd ever seen' by a local building control officer, Mr Marns claimed.
Figg declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.
Essex Police were also approached for a statement.
Basildon Council said: 'The Building Safety Act 2022 gave powers to add more effective enforcement options for non-compliant building work such as compliance notices and stop notices, these meant that acting can be much quicker and hopefully lead to remedial work being carried out in a set time.
'It's also added into the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended) Duty holder responsibility and competence requirements, giving better powers to hold the person responsible for non-compliance to account and act as a bigger deterrent.
'A custodial sentence was also introduced, the intention for this was [that] under previous legislation the fines were often quite small and did not serve as an adequate deterrent.
'These are positive measure that have been implemented in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and aim to improve building safety and industry standards.'
