Builder in £2m fraud case says he ‘learned from mistakes’

A builder on trial for fraud has told a jury he had learned from his mistakes after previously pleading guilty to similar offences three times.

Mark Killick, 56, from Paulton in Somerset, is charged with 46 counts of fraud across the West country between December 2019 and November 2021 – all of which he denies.

Mr Killick, also known as Marc Cole, stands accused of leaving dozens of customers’ homes in disarray after failing to complete renovations, with the total fraud amounting to more than £2m.

After 10 weeks of hearing the prosecution’s case against him, Mr Killick has now given evidence in court in his defence.

Jurors have been told that Mr Killick served time in prison after pleading guilty to fraud charges in 2014, and had previously pleaded guilty to further fraud charges in both 2008 and 2009.

During questioning by his own barrister, Mr Killick was asked why he had not pleaded guilty to the current charges against him.

“Because I’m not guilty,” he replied.

“We ran a great company and tried very hard,” he continued. “I’m more educated, have a beautiful wife and children, I’ve matured a lot and learned from my mistakes.”

Throughout the first 10 weeks of the trial, the jury heard extensive evidence about how Mr Killick had left customers’ homes looking like a “junkyard” and had left suppliers chasing thousands of pounds in unpaid bills.

He was also asked about having changed his name from his given name of Mark Killick to Mark Jenkins and later Marc Cole.

He denied suggestions that he may have done so to distance himself from his past, and said he had picked Jenkins as that was his grandfather’s name.

He said he then chose Cole to match the name of his third wife and her children.

He went on to say that the reason his company T D Cole had failed was because of the difficulties of the pandemic and the rise in the cost of building materials.

“It was terrible – we went in and out of trying to recover,” he told the jury.

“You’d get over one obstacle and there was another one there. There were just hundreds of obstacles.”

He told the jury that having previously been declared bankrupt he had been the subject of an order that meant he could not act as a director before 2018.

Mr Killick was also asked about the numerous directors in charge of his company – one of whom was his wife.

Asked if he could have been a director, he said: “I didn’t want to run a company any more, I just wanted to be a carpenter.”

The case continues.