COLCHESTER MP Bob Russell has used parliamentary privilege to name and shame a builder he claims carried out work so shoddy it left a Colchester woman with a £90,000 bill.

The MP named a Braintree builder in the Commons, using the privilege rules to protect him against legal action for defamation.

Critics of the system say MPs should not hide behind privilege to make such statements, leaving their targets unable to challenge them in the courts.

Mr Russell alleges New Town resident Lisa Handley’s home was rendered almost unsaleable because of sub-standard work on her loft undertaken by builder Robin Kiddle.

Mr Russell cited Ms Handley’s case as he called for greater legal protection for householders who hired tradesman to carry out building work for loft conversions.

Mr Kiddle dismissed the MP’s allegations as “not true”, saying he had carried out more than 200 loft conversions over the past 20 years and had received only one complaint.

Mr Russell said Miss Handley had agreed to pay his company, Cavendish Conversions, £24,750 to carry out the work in March 2005.

She later fired the company, after a “litany of criticisms and complaints about the poor and unsafe work”.

He added: “I am no building expert, but I have visited my constituent’s home and I was appalled at what I saw.”

Mr Russell said Ms Handley made a complaint to the Federation of Master Builders in June 2005, before requesting money for remedial work.

He claimed Mr Kiddle set up a new company called Cavendish Loft Conversions, and liquidated the original firm, which would have been liable for any compensation.

Mr Russell said the federation had investigated and found in favour of Mr Kiddle, but had later stripped his new company of membership, because it had not been in existence for the minimum of three years it required.

Mr Kiddle said during the building work, the semi-detached home’s rear bedroom had suffered a leak, which he dealt with.

He said he completed the work and called in a building inspector, who found three minor defects. Mr Kiddle promised to deal with these the following day, but he said when the inspector left, Ms Handley’s partner told him his firm was off the job and refused to allow him to return.

Mr Kiddle said he was still owed around £12,000 for the work.

He added he had formed Cavendish Loft Conversions because Ms Handley secured an order freezing his bank account.

The case went to an insolvency court, and Mr Kiddle said £27,000 of the £28,000 left in the account had gone on legal bills.

He added: “I can get more than 200 letters of work I have completed. Other than this case, I have never been to court once and I have never had a dispute.”

Mr Russell also accused the building inspector, from RH Building Consultancy, of “failing to notice the shoddy workmanship of Cavendish Conversions”.

Ms Handley, RH Building Consultancy, and the Federation of Master Builders could not be reached for comment.