:00:06. > :00:10.Hello from Bristol were tonight, we are exposing a company that has
:00:10. > :00:14.been deceiving vulnerable and elderly people. They are prom as
:00:14. > :00:19.prizes that never materialised and when the right to ask for help,
:00:19. > :00:25.their letters are thrown away and read.
:00:25. > :00:32.Why do you continue to cash these checks?
:00:32. > :00:39.Also, we meet a woman taking her battle with anorexia into schools.
:00:39. > :00:43.This is the number of tablets I have to take every year.
:00:43. > :00:53.And the former fire station undergoing an extraordinary
:00:53. > :00:53.
:00:53. > :01:03.transformation. I am Alastair McKee Abbess s Inside
:01:03. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :01:09.We have all had them through our door, letters like these offering
:01:10. > :01:14.huge cash prizes. Also you have to do is fill out the form, by some
:01:14. > :01:24.produce, and that money could be cured. Does it sound too good to be
:01:24. > :01:27.
:01:27. > :01:29.true? Jon Cuthill has been finding out. This is Hilda and Keith
:01:29. > :01:32.Birtwistle who live on their pensions in a council bungalow in
:01:32. > :01:35.Speedwell in Bristol. In the past five years, Hilda has spent over
:01:35. > :01:45.�16,000 chasing a prize that does not exist. She has emptied the bank
:01:45. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:52.account twice. He has cut my card up. Hilda boccia beauty and health
:01:52. > :01:58.products from a mail order company which made her believe that if she
:01:58. > :02:03.lane 2 -- claimed orders with them, she would win more than �130,000.
:02:03. > :02:09.The House is full of products they do not need. They are all over the
:02:09. > :02:14.place. She is often up at 3 o'clock in the morning to fill out the
:02:14. > :02:19.forms and send orders. But of being caught in this scam has had a
:02:19. > :02:29.dramatic effect on their relationship. We are always falling
:02:29. > :02:40.
:02:40. > :02:43.out. She has been in tears. Each of It has broken us apart. In one OF
:02:43. > :02:48.letters to the company, held apologised to the she had not been
:02:48. > :02:55.able to place an order as she had spent all her savings and still had
:02:55. > :03:04.not received any prize money. The answer was to request more orders
:03:04. > :03:10.and promising more prices. We have discovered that letters from
:03:10. > :03:15.pensioners are thrown away. People from all over the country have
:03:15. > :03:24.fallen for this column and in every case, they can be traced back to
:03:24. > :03:34.one address. The UK there centre for a huge mail order scum, Emery
:03:34. > :03:36.
:03:36. > :03:46.Ltd in Hampshire. They are not Reading their letters. I am in a
:03:46. > :03:51.
:03:51. > :03:56.wheelchair, I am a pensioner, I have had a two heart attacks... Our
:03:56. > :04:05.loud hailer goes down a storm. Neighbouring visitors come out to
:04:05. > :04:12.listen. One employee who was so appalled by the deception, she went
:04:12. > :04:18.undercover with a camera to show what happens. The handling company
:04:18. > :04:27.it works for a Frenchman who runs a number of businesses in Europe are
:04:27. > :04:31.promising prizes in return for I started working there and opening
:04:31. > :04:37.letters and thinking is so many people had one. But the more I
:04:37. > :04:47.opened, I thought it was not right, not everyone could be a winner. It
:04:47. > :04:50.
:04:50. > :05:00.People were confused, asking about their prize and why they had not
:05:00. > :05:08.
:05:08. > :05:11.got it yet. They were asking about it. They were all thrown away.
:05:11. > :05:14.Jimmy and Mary's cupboards are all but bare. They have gone into debt
:05:14. > :05:19.because Jimmy was so convinced he had won a prize, he kept ordering
:05:19. > :05:27.goods to make sure he didn't lose out. He kept telling me that he
:05:27. > :05:32.knew it was true. He believed it. Even my daughter has told him it
:05:32. > :05:38.was wrong. They said that he was wasting his money. But he just
:05:38. > :05:42.would not have it. He thought they were right and we were wrong.
:05:42. > :05:52.others, the road to the company. Without our whistleblower, bare
:05:52. > :05:54.
:05:54. > :06:04.letter would have been thrown away like the rest. -- there letter.
:06:04. > :06:04.
:06:04. > :06:11.thank you for the lovely news M4 may be -- informing me. This would
:06:11. > :06:17.be life-changing for us. I cannot thank you enough. Time to go and
:06:17. > :06:21.see some of the people behind this very nasty business.
:06:21. > :06:24.Many of the Mail order companies are owned by the same person, a
:06:25. > :06:32.wealthy Frenchman who needs I UK- based a postal address in order to
:06:32. > :06:42.operate. This is where Emery Ltd comes in, based in Romsey and owned
:06:42. > :06:45.
:06:45. > :06:49.by the David Gebbett. You might know him if you are a member of
:06:49. > :06:56.these yacht clubs. He is a keen it sailor and spent a lot of time at
:06:56. > :07:06.the real us, when he is not in New Zealand. His son Nick Gebbett
:07:06. > :07:20.
:07:20. > :07:23.resemble or for, he is into skiing. -- lives in law fog. -- Norfolk.
:07:23. > :07:27.While their customers may be left all at sea, the Gebbetts appear to
:07:27. > :07:31.be riding high on a wave of success. Here's dad David, who often pops in
:07:31. > :07:34.for a chat at the company. And here's his son Nick, who appears to
:07:34. > :07:37.be in charge. He keeps a much lower profile - not the best photo. While
:07:37. > :07:40.they throw away most letters they receive, Nick Gebbett did read the
:07:40. > :07:44.one we sent him. He replied they would only answer our questions
:07:44. > :07:46.with a statement if we used it in full and unedited. Obviously, we
:07:46. > :07:49.want to hear their side of the story, but we cannot go giving
:07:49. > :07:59.promises like that to anyone. I wanted to know why they thought it
:07:59. > :08:01.
:08:01. > :08:04.was OK to do their dirty work for a French scanner -- scammer. And what
:08:04. > :08:11.were the chances of that? I managed to bump into David Gebbett at his
:08:11. > :08:16.waterside home. Why does your company continue to exploit
:08:16. > :08:25.vulnerable people? I cannot answer any questions. We have send you a
:08:25. > :08:35.statement. But your staff is -- are being told to shed letters. Why do
:08:35. > :08:38.
:08:38. > :08:45.you continue to have... What do you say to the people who have been
:08:45. > :08:50.taken for a ride by this company? If we did not do it, some other
:08:50. > :08:58.company would do it. That does not make it right. Have you got nothing
:08:58. > :09:05.to say to these people at all? Surely you owe them something?
:09:05. > :09:13.There we go. He is a reply, no comment, but if they did not do it,
:09:13. > :09:18.somebody else would. Does that make it right? Thank you for the
:09:18. > :09:22.exciting news. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has asked to
:09:22. > :09:28.see our evidence. They say they are keen to take action against any
:09:28. > :09:35.companies that operate to deceive members of the public. My message
:09:35. > :09:41.to companies working as a third party is that you are working on
:09:41. > :09:45.burrowed -- borrowed time. We will stop operating and bring you to
:09:45. > :09:50.justice. We will make sure that you are seen as part of that criminal
:09:50. > :09:56.conspiracy. We are closing in on you weather you are in the UK or
:09:56. > :10:06.operating for somebody outside the UK. Back in Bristol, this may all
:10:06. > :10:14.
:10:14. > :10:17.come too late for Keith and held up. -- Hilda. Back in Bristol, this may
:10:17. > :10:20.all come too late for Keith and Hilda. But they have their own
:10:20. > :10:25.views on the people running such companies. Thieving bar stewards.
:10:25. > :10:32.At the moment, I am living on hope. Our work here is done. I think we
:10:32. > :10:38.have given them a voice. Our next story tonight is about a
:10:38. > :10:43.woman who has been fighting all her life against anorexia. In the past,
:10:43. > :10:53.it nearly killed her. Now she is taking her story into schools to
:10:53. > :11:01.
:11:02. > :11:05.encourage young people to take it People call me names. They call me
:11:05. > :11:13.as maquette. I have been told by a revelation that they think I have
:11:13. > :11:16.got Aids. -- a smack head. Nikki Bragg has lost all her teeth. She
:11:16. > :11:21.has osteoporosis, their hair is thinning and she had a heart attack
:11:21. > :11:26.two years ago. She is just 43 and this has all been caused by
:11:26. > :11:30.anorexia. She has been battling the illness since she was nine. At her
:11:30. > :11:39.worst, her weight dropped to four stone. Years of starvation have
:11:39. > :11:45.taken their toll. People look at me and think I have created this
:11:45. > :11:51.myself. But I haven't. It is just an eating disorder that starts off
:11:51. > :11:56.mental and becomes physical and then it can take over. Now, Nikki
:11:56. > :12:00.wants to warn young people about the dangers of anorexia. She has
:12:00. > :12:06.not done a lot of head teachers' doors and today is about to run her
:12:06. > :12:14.first workshop at her local school. I am really nervous. This is the
:12:14. > :12:18.first time my daughter sees it, as well so it is good I think.
:12:18. > :12:25.With her daughter Sabrina for support, Nikki is off to Swindon
:12:25. > :12:30.Academy to talk to pupils about her eating disorder. Hello, my name is
:12:30. > :12:32.Nikki. I am here to speak to you about life with an eating disorder.
:12:32. > :12:41.Hands up who missed breakfast this morning, whether they were in a
:12:41. > :12:43.rush, didn't want to eat, whether they thought it would not matter.
:12:43. > :12:47.Girls don't talk about it. They talk to their friends but nobody
:12:47. > :12:54.else. The friends pat them on the back and maybe sometimes encourage
:12:54. > :12:59.them. They will not talk to the parents. It has made me wonder what
:12:59. > :13:04.we can do better, and do more of, in school, to help these girls.
:13:04. > :13:09.woke up one morning with a pain in my arm and my chest. Sabrina went
:13:09. > :13:16.to town, her brother was at home. I collapsed on his bed. Anybody got
:13:16. > :13:20.any idea what was happening to me? A heart attack. I was 40. For but
:13:20. > :13:24.this wasn't the first time Nikki had been near death and decades of
:13:24. > :13:28.honours have had a devastating effect on her and her family.
:13:28. > :13:34.was a doctor on our doorstep with an ambulance and a crew ready to
:13:34. > :13:37.take my mum. I can't remember his true words but it was along the
:13:37. > :13:43.fact of, "pick out a coffin because if your mum does not come to
:13:43. > :13:48.hospital with us now, she will not come out". I was only about 10 and
:13:48. > :13:52.that is not really what you want to hear. I remember nights I would
:13:52. > :13:57.wake up hearing her being sick in the bathroom. Sabrina once the
:13:57. > :14:01.students to realise the impact her mum's anorexia has had on her. --
:14:01. > :14:06.wants. She is reading a letter she wrote to her magazine when she was
:14:06. > :14:11.just 14. Why are my dad was out, she would scrape three-quarters of
:14:11. > :14:15.her dinner into the bin and Tommy not to tell him. They have been to
:14:15. > :14:25.hell and back with me and I do question why they don't get angry
:14:25. > :14:33.
:14:33. > :14:39.with me. I certainly get angry with My children's lives were fine, but
:14:39. > :14:44.it was not normal. I am going to hold up a pair of
:14:45. > :14:48.jeans... Nikki hopes her family's story will bring home the realities
:14:49. > :14:54.of anorexia but she is well aware that nowadays, the pressure to be
:14:54. > :15:03.thin can be overwhelming. How old would you say I was when I wore
:15:03. > :15:06.these genes? 11? 12? These were my jeans two years ago. I think there
:15:06. > :15:13.is definitely a pressure from the media because they're all these
:15:13. > :15:17.models who are super skinny. There is a lot of pressure. It sounds
:15:17. > :15:26.wrong to say it but I think I would rather go through that and be
:15:26. > :15:30.skinny and be who I am now, if that makes sense. Look at my teeth.
:15:30. > :15:34.You have to be happy with the person you are inside. But with so
:15:34. > :15:38.many negative views a round of models and everything like that, we
:15:39. > :15:44.are all looking for something that is not existent in the first place.
:15:44. > :15:46.How many of you are going to get up in the morning and have breakfast?
:15:46. > :15:51.Today went really well. The students were really taking notice,
:15:51. > :15:54.which is what we want. I liked the hands going up at the end, saying
:15:55. > :15:59.they were going to eat breakfast. Hoping it is going to shock them
:15:59. > :16:05.but not in a negative way. Shock them in a positive way to the point
:16:05. > :16:09.of really thinking how their bodies should be working. It was the
:16:09. > :16:13.desire to raise awareness that drove Nikki to start a campaign but
:16:13. > :16:17.now she has come to London to visit a specialist clinic to learn more
:16:17. > :16:22.about anorexia and how it should be treated.
:16:22. > :16:26.Professor Bryan Lask is President of the Eating Disorders Research
:16:26. > :16:30.Society and instigated pioneering work on these illnesses at Great
:16:30. > :16:35.Ormond Street children's hospital. To you think it is a good idea,
:16:35. > :16:38.what I am trying to do in schools? A I think that works at an
:16:38. > :16:45.educational level but the problem about an illness like anorexia
:16:45. > :16:51.nervosa is that it is not a choice. It is a brain based disorder so
:16:51. > :16:56.your genes run to you vulnerable. Something goes wrong in the brain
:16:56. > :17:03.and that eventually Switches on in puberty. You get all these weird
:17:03. > :17:09.ideas about yourself. You think you are fat when you or not and you go
:17:09. > :17:11.on a diet because you cannot bear what you see in yourself.
:17:11. > :17:15.professor feels that jobseeker's allowance would not have been ill
:17:15. > :17:18.for so long if she had got the right help as a child. Eating
:17:18. > :17:27.disorders are eminently treatable if you get in their early and treat
:17:27. > :17:31.them correctly. -- Nikki would not have been ill. We need to
:17:31. > :17:37.concentrate more when they I don't go to build it up. You need to
:17:37. > :17:41.recognise the problem to start with. It is nice to meet someone with the
:17:41. > :17:45.same issues. Somebody who knows only too well how hard it can be to
:17:45. > :17:50.find the right treatment is Bristol University student Liv Byrom. After
:17:50. > :17:55.10 years with the illness, she is now recovering, but ended up in
:17:55. > :18:01.intensive care before she got the help she really needed. Basically,
:18:01. > :18:05.to go and activists to treatment and you get put on the waiting list.
:18:05. > :18:08.-- actively seek treatment. As you are on the waiting list, due to
:18:08. > :18:13.climate so that you don't want treatment any more and then you are
:18:13. > :18:18.forced into treatment, whereas what they've really need to do is give
:18:18. > :18:21.treatment to people when they actually want it and need it.
:18:21. > :18:27.get a wheelchair, Swindon won't know what is hitting it because I
:18:27. > :18:37.will put a motorbike on the front! Nikki's and recovery is being held
:18:37. > :18:38.
:18:38. > :18:43.by her to help prevent the illness taking hold in young students.
:18:43. > :18:49.is how many tablets I have to take per year because of having every
:18:49. > :18:54.bad eating disorder. Oh, my gosh! Make as much noise as you want
:18:54. > :18:58.because it is something I am passionate about. What happens to
:18:58. > :19:05.me happened to me but isn't it better that we protect the future
:19:05. > :19:09.generation? In our final film tonight, we are
:19:09. > :19:14.off to a fire station with a difference. The plan was to build a
:19:14. > :19:19.revolutionary new venue for young people - and with a price tag of �5
:19:19. > :19:27.million, it was certainly ambitious. But would it be ready in time for
:19:27. > :19:32.its grand opening? For the last three years, a curious
:19:32. > :19:35.grand design has been taking shape in the centre of Bristol. What was
:19:35. > :19:42.once a fire station is on the verge of becoming a state-of-the-art
:19:42. > :19:47.youth centre with a cafe, recording studios and a performance space. It
:19:48. > :19:53.is a hugely anticipated budget. Now the pressure is on to be finished
:19:53. > :19:59.on time and on budget. Where are we on the potential delay to the
:19:59. > :20:03.building work? Everybody, including the project's young volunteers, is
:20:03. > :20:10.starting to feel the strain. This discussion doesn't need to go on
:20:10. > :20:13.any longer! Overseeing the redevelopment is Sandy from the
:20:13. > :20:17.Creative Youth Network. Fraught someone whose background is working
:20:17. > :20:23.with young people, is a building budget of this scale a step too
:20:23. > :20:29.far? It is not a small DIY job. We have had to manage a �5 million
:20:29. > :20:33.budget, which is far more than I have ever managed before. It has
:20:33. > :20:41.really stretched our organisation. It has stretched the staff to their
:20:41. > :20:45.limit and beyond. This is the more to performance-based... It is June,
:20:45. > :20:49.four months before the building is due to open. With problems starting
:20:49. > :20:56.to mount up, keeping the project on schedule is fast becoming Sandi's
:20:56. > :20:59.primary focus. These are the original railings. The station is a
:20:59. > :21:04.listed building, which brings a host of unique and expensive
:21:04. > :21:13.problems. We have had to put new stone in because it is a listed
:21:13. > :21:18.building. That is probably 20 grand. You end up spending 20,000 on any
:21:18. > :21:22.wall at the top and that is �20,000 less for young people. But there is
:21:22. > :21:25.better at news downstairs in what will be the new cafe. Indeed
:21:25. > :21:30.solution has been found to a potentially very expensive problem
:21:30. > :21:34.with the Kinton -- kitchen ventilation problems. We have now
:21:34. > :21:38.had a ventilation system agreed and instead of going out the back, it
:21:38. > :21:42.is going out the front. That is all sorted. Can you show me where it
:21:42. > :21:46.will go? The kitchen is now laid out the way
:21:46. > :21:53.we wanted to be and we are just deciding on final things like
:21:53. > :21:56.colours and acoustic treatments in the cafe, and do we want a
:21:56. > :22:01.biometric reader for young people's fingerprints or just a card swipe
:22:01. > :22:06.system? So, basically, it is proposed to be a front door and
:22:06. > :22:11.then people, when they come in and out, put their fingers on it.
:22:11. > :22:15.group of young volunteers are helping to make the decision on
:22:15. > :22:22.whether it is worth spending an extra �5,000 for a biometric entry
:22:22. > :22:28.system. Why would you wanted? What does it do that is really important
:22:28. > :22:35.to, that is worth �5,000? We need some kind of security system, so if
:22:36. > :22:39.the card system is the most basic one... A what happens if you get a
:22:39. > :22:45.cut and your finger and it is the finger you use? Fingerprints are a
:22:45. > :22:55.waste of time. The card is fine. Who wants the card system? Vote,
:22:55. > :23:00.guys. Card system? Card system? OK. The group may have just saved
:23:00. > :23:04.�5,000 but where does that leave the overall budget shortfall? It is
:23:04. > :23:08.partly how long is a piece of string? How good deal of the
:23:08. > :23:13.equipment to be when you build a building? We reckon about �80,000,
:23:13. > :23:19.as long as, over the next few months, the builders don't come
:23:19. > :23:25.back to us and say, here is another problem. So, Sandy is bashing the
:23:25. > :23:30.phone, desperately trying to raise money. He is hoping he may get and
:23:30. > :23:37.�80,000 loan from Bristol City Council. But getting through to the
:23:37. > :23:41.right person is harder than you think. OK, thank you, cheers. He is
:23:41. > :23:51.out of his meeting but he is lost somewhere in the council office. So
:23:51. > :23:56.
:23:56. > :24:01.When the station is open, responsibility for running a cafe
:24:01. > :24:08.will rest with the local YMCA. It is July and Ben has arranged a
:24:08. > :24:18.meeting with a group of young what form it -- furniture to buy.
:24:18. > :24:24.
:24:24. > :24:33.But after 30 minutes, no young people have turned up. Let's call
:24:33. > :24:37.it a day. Will work out another session.
:24:37. > :24:42.It is August and Sandy has finally got his �80,000 loan from the
:24:42. > :24:46.council. The bad news is that a few issues have come up and we are
:24:46. > :24:51.potentially looking and needing another 50,000 to finish it. With
:24:51. > :24:55.four weeks to go, most of the work has been done. It is frustrating.
:24:55. > :25:00.Sandy and his team are having a crisis meeting with the building
:25:00. > :25:07.contractors to thrash out he was responsible for the increased costs,
:25:07. > :25:15.and to see if yet more savings can be found. It is no accusation. Why
:25:15. > :25:20.are we being asked to pay for it? Was it Alf fault? It has been
:25:20. > :25:25.installed as the drawing. vision is there. It is just a
:25:25. > :25:31.matter of solving problems that come up. The light at the end of
:25:31. > :25:34.the tunnel is there. If we can find another 20,000, we on our way. I
:25:34. > :25:41.have come out of that meeting potentially �20,000 richer than I
:25:41. > :25:47.went into it. Not me personally, of course! May be some tables to sit
:25:47. > :25:53.round... Ben from the YMCA, and he has finally managed to have his
:25:53. > :26:02.furniture meeting. So, with a very limited budget they are hitting
:26:03. > :26:12.local charity shops. That's a bargain! �36 for a sofa? I am
:26:13. > :26:19.
:26:19. > :26:23.excited about that. Let's do it! 75 It's now 18th October for, opening
:26:23. > :26:33.day, and last-minute touches are being added before the guests
:26:33. > :26:33.
:26:33. > :26:37.I am still in a hard hat, five hours away from the corporate
:26:37. > :26:47.launch! We have quite a lot to do but we have got a good team so we
:26:47. > :26:51.
:26:51. > :27:01.So, after more than four years of work, the station is finally ready.
:27:01. > :27:11.
:27:12. > :27:14.It is party time and topping the HE WRAPS. I will support any
:27:14. > :27:21.project that is positive for done people because they retires when
:27:21. > :27:31.people don't get the opportunities. When I was younger, I didn't get
:27:31. > :27:35.
:27:35. > :27:38.The thing that has happened over the last three days and
:27:38. > :27:43.particularly today is a little bit of magic that is beginning to
:27:43. > :27:46.happen, where young people from all across the city have all come
:27:46. > :27:51.together and they are all mixing in a way that you don't really see
:27:51. > :27:56.anywhere else. I hope that is just the beginning of what we can do
:27:56. > :28:06.here. The station has now been open for a week and already is proving
:28:06. > :28:10.That's it for this week. Before we go, just time to give you a quick
:28:10. > :28:15.update on our investigation into Winterbourne be last week.
:28:15. > :28:20.Following our programme, -- Winterbourne view. Following our
:28:20. > :28:24.investigation, Avon and Somerset Police apologised to Ben Fuller's
:28:24. > :28:29.family and said they have launched a fresh investigation.
:28:29. > :28:37.For more details on that story and any others, follow us on Twitter.
:28:37. > :28:42.If there is anything you want to tell us about, send us an e-mail.
:28:42. > :28:47.Next week, we investigate a serial fraudster who has been posing as a