COWBOY builder

Spare a thought for Rod Firth who planned to retire to a house in County Kerry. Set in the countryside outside Killorglin, County Kerry the Essex man bought the bungalow from Daniel Cahill. He recommended his brother Jerome as a builder to carry out renovations. The first picture is the house as it looked before Jerome got going. Things didn't quite work out to plan and €285,000 later Rod's retirement dreams lie in ruins. Despite a €200,000 court order the Cahills are refusing to pay back the cash. They didn't defend the court action, but told me Rod had had hired them as labourers and turned on them when he ran out of cash - then again Rod had a half dozen people lined up to give evidence on his behalf. This is how the house looks now: