YESTERDAY ‘Inside Out West’ reported on a British property developer with some serious questions to answer, having fled Cyprus after taking an alleged €2.5 million from his customers since 2004.
The BBC investigative team tracked down Adrian Mills, the Managing Director of MDE Nest Homes, to the Gloucestershire village of Dursley where they confronted him.
After numerous court hearings in Cyprus, the judicial system failed to bring Mills to justice. The criminal case against him was dropped by the authorities after he failed to appear in court.
Properties built in the Paphos village of Nata were never completed and many suffer from major structural problems. Mills sold more properties at Choletria, but work on these never started.
An independent surveyor who visited one of the properties at Nata in 2007 declared the site unsafe; Nest Homes had never completed the project.
Speaking to the reporter Jonathan Barnett, who bought a property off-plan in Choletria and who paid more than £200,000 up front, said: “He (Mills) is a complete fantasist, a pathological liar – I have nothing but contempt for the man!” adding that “It’s been a complete and utter nightmare. I have never suffered so much stress in my entire life and we see no end in sight.”
Ann Hinton had a lucky escape. She cancelled her contract when she saw the state of her home as it was being built. Ann was one of four buyers who eventually won a civil court judgement in Cyprus against Nest Homes for more than €1 million and who have been chasing the money ever since.
A tearful Ms Hinton said “I would like to think that he (Mills) would be made to feel like he has made myself and others feel. But quite clearly, he has no conscience. ”
Mills owes tens of thousands of pounds in personal loans made by former friends. One of them, Bernie Bowhay, said: “I’m disgusted at the way he has treated me.”
The investigative team also discovered that tens of thousands of pounds paid by the buyers went directly to Adrian Mills himself, sometimes in cash.
BBC video news report
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