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Doorstep crime cost Highland residents more than £1.7million over last year

Muriel Neill and DCI Michael Sutherland at the launch of Operation Monarda
Muriel Neill and DCI Michael Sutherland at the launch of Operation Monarda

Rogue traders have plundered more than £1.7million from victims across the north in the space of just 12 months.

Police believe the true cost of doorstep crime could be even

higher – because only a fraction of incidents are reported to officers.

They are now urging the public to fight back as part of a campaign to crack down on callous bogus workers and ruthless con men.

And the face of newly-launch Operation Monarda is a brave pensioner who chased three burly crooks out of her Highland home as they tried to force her to pay them £2,000 to “fix” her roof.

Eighty-seven-year-old Muriel Neill said she believed it was her duty to speak out about her ordeal to try to stop other people becoming victims.

Three men tried to trick her into parting with cash by claiming rotting wood at her Inverness home needed replaced.

They took turns to target her – one saying a copper strip was out of place and he would repair it for free, another conning his way inside by asking to use the toilet, and a third carrying out an uninvited “inspection” of the roof.

Mrs Neill stood her ground, and although the three rogue traders fled empty-handed, the frail senior citizen was left a “trembling wreck”.

She decided to speak out after learning that someone else had been conned out of £6,000.

She said: “I thought somebody ought to do something and then I felt rather ashamed because it’s no use saying they ought to do something, it’s got to be me.

“I was taught that if a job needs doing then just do it, very often there’s nobody else.”

She said that because the men were “rude” to her she was angry enough to force them to leave – but said if they had been polite the outcome may have been different.

She added: “I got angry and it was the anger that saved me.

“He was rude to me in my own kitchen. I don’t put up with that kind of thing.

“When he said ‘we can’t have you giving us this mouth’ I got angry, telling him you can’t do this and that carried me through to getting them out.

“But afterwards I was a trembling wreck.”

Detective Chief Inspector Michael Sutherland said: “Her home has basically been invaded and she’s being intimidated in her own house.

“These people have no scruples, they’re ruthless and it’s all about making money for them.

“They’re not offering a service, they’re not offering quality of work. All they’re doing is preying on some of the most vulnerable people we have in our community.”

Operation Monarda has been jointly organised by police, Highland Council’s trading standards department and other agencies.

More than 1,000 incidents and 262 bogus caller crimes were recorded between February 1 and July 31 this year alone, with approximately £238,300 taken from victims.

But it is believed the scale of problem could be much bigger, with trading standards officers estimating that £1.75million could have been taken last year.

Michael McGinty, team leader for Highland trading standards, said: “Sadly what happened to Mrs Neill, and those tactics, are quite common.

“Fortunately she got out at the other end relatively unscathed in terms of financial loss but sometimes the financial loss to victims is quite considerable.

“Last year for example in the Highlands, from a trading standards perspective, the estimated loss to Highland residents could be as much as £1.75million.”

He said that the figure was a projection based on an estimated 10% of victims reporting the crime to either police or trading standards.

He added: “What we’ve found is getting the victim to come forward is a problem.

“They don’t want to come forward either through fear or embarrassment of what’s happened to them.”

Mrs Neill has appeared in a video which is now being used online as part of the campaign.