29/10/2012 Inside Out West

Hello from Bristol were tonight, we are exposing a company that has

been deceiving vulnerable and elderly people. They are prom as

prizes that never materialised and when the right to ask for help,

their letters are thrown away and read.

Why do you continue to cash these checks?

Also, we meet a woman taking her battle with anorexia into schools.

This is the number of tablets I have to take every year.

And the former fire station undergoing an extraordinary

transformation. I am Alastair McKee Abbess s Inside

We have all had them through our door, letters like these offering

huge cash prizes. Also you have to do is fill out the form, by some

produce, and that money could be cured. Does it sound too good to be

true? Jon Cuthill has been finding out. This is Hilda and Keith

Birtwistle who live on their pensions in a council bungalow in

Speedwell in Bristol. In the past five years, Hilda has spent over

�16,000 chasing a prize that does not exist. She has emptied the bank

account twice. He has cut my card up. Hilda boccia beauty and health

products from a mail order company which made her believe that if she

lane 2 -- claimed orders with them, she would win more than �130,000.

The House is full of products they do not need. They are all over the

place. She is often up at 3 o'clock in the morning to fill out the

forms and send orders. But of being caught in this scam has had a

dramatic effect on their relationship. We are always falling

out. She has been in tears. Each of It has broken us apart. In one OF

letters to the company, held apologised to the she had not been

able to place an order as she had spent all her savings and still had

not received any prize money. The answer was to request more orders

and promising more prices. We have discovered that letters from

pensioners are thrown away. People from all over the country have

fallen for this column and in every case, they can be traced back to

one address. The UK there centre for a huge mail order scum, Emery

Ltd in Hampshire. They are not Reading their letters. I am in a

wheelchair, I am a pensioner, I have had a two heart attacks... Our

loud hailer goes down a storm. Neighbouring visitors come out to

listen. One employee who was so appalled by the deception, she went

undercover with a camera to show what happens. The handling company

it works for a Frenchman who runs a number of businesses in Europe are

promising prizes in return for I started working there and opening

letters and thinking is so many people had one. But the more I

opened, I thought it was not right, not everyone could be a winner. It

People were confused, asking about their prize and why they had not

got it yet. They were asking about it. They were all thrown away.

Jimmy and Mary's cupboards are all but bare. They have gone into debt

because Jimmy was so convinced he had won a prize, he kept ordering

goods to make sure he didn't lose out. He kept telling me that he

knew it was true. He believed it. Even my daughter has told him it

was wrong. They said that he was wasting his money. But he just

would not have it. He thought they were right and we were wrong.

others, the road to the company. Without our whistleblower, bare

letter would have been thrown away like the rest. -- there letter.

thank you for the lovely news M4 may be -- informing me. This would

be life-changing for us. I cannot thank you enough. Time to go and

see some of the people behind this very nasty business.

Many of the Mail order companies are owned by the same person, a

wealthy Frenchman who needs I UK- based a postal address in order to

operate. This is where Emery Ltd comes in, based in Romsey and owned

by the David Gebbett. You might know him if you are a member of

these yacht clubs. He is a keen it sailor and spent a lot of time at

the real us, when he is not in New Zealand. His son Nick Gebbett

resemble or for, he is into skiing. -- lives in law fog. -- Norfolk.

While their customers may be left all at sea, the Gebbetts appear to

be riding high on a wave of success. Here's dad David, who often pops in

for a chat at the company. And here's his son Nick, who appears to

be in charge. He keeps a much lower profile - not the best photo. While

they throw away most letters they receive, Nick Gebbett did read the

one we sent him. He replied they would only answer our questions

with a statement if we used it in full and unedited. Obviously, we

want to hear their side of the story, but we cannot go giving

promises like that to anyone. I wanted to know why they thought it

was OK to do their dirty work for a French scanner -- scammer. And what

were the chances of that? I managed to bump into David Gebbett at his

waterside home. Why does your company continue to exploit

vulnerable people? I cannot answer any questions. We have send you a

statement. But your staff is -- are being told to shed letters. Why do

you continue to have... What do you say to the people who have been

taken for a ride by this company? If we did not do it, some other

company would do it. That does not make it right. Have you got nothing

to say to these people at all? Surely you owe them something?

There we go. He is a reply, no comment, but if they did not do it,

somebody else would. Does that make it right? Thank you for the

exciting news. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has asked to

see our evidence. They say they are keen to take action against any

companies that operate to deceive members of the public. My message

to companies working as a third party is that you are working on

burrowed -- borrowed time. We will stop operating and bring you to

justice. We will make sure that you are seen as part of that criminal

conspiracy. We are closing in on you weather you are in the UK or

operating for somebody outside the UK. Back in Bristol, this may all

come too late for Keith and held up. -- Hilda. Back in Bristol, this may

all come too late for Keith and Hilda. But they have their own

views on the people running such companies. Thieving bar stewards.

At the moment, I am living on hope. Our work here is done. I think we

have given them a voice. Our next story tonight is about a

woman who has been fighting all her life against anorexia. In the past,

it nearly killed her. Now she is taking her story into schools to

encourage young people to take it People call me names. They call me

as maquette. I have been told by a revelation that they think I have

got Aids. -- a smack head. Nikki Bragg has lost all her teeth. She

has osteoporosis, their hair is thinning and she had a heart attack

two years ago. She is just 43 and this has all been caused by

anorexia. She has been battling the illness since she was nine. At her

worst, her weight dropped to four stone. Years of starvation have

taken their toll. People look at me and think I have created this

myself. But I haven't. It is just an eating disorder that starts off

mental and becomes physical and then it can take over. Now, Nikki

wants to warn young people about the dangers of anorexia. She has

not done a lot of head teachers' doors and today is about to run her

first workshop at her local school. I am really nervous. This is the

first time my daughter sees it, as well so it is good I think.

With her daughter Sabrina for support, Nikki is off to Swindon

Academy to talk to pupils about her eating disorder. Hello, my name is

Nikki. I am here to speak to you about life with an eating disorder.

Hands up who missed breakfast this morning, whether they were in a

rush, didn't want to eat, whether they thought it would not matter.

Girls don't talk about it. They talk to their friends but nobody

else. The friends pat them on the back and maybe sometimes encourage

them. They will not talk to the parents. It has made me wonder what

we can do better, and do more of, in school, to help these girls.

woke up one morning with a pain in my arm and my chest. Sabrina went

to town, her brother was at home. I collapsed on his bed. Anybody got

any idea what was happening to me? A heart attack. I was 40. For but

this wasn't the first time Nikki had been near death and decades of

honours have had a devastating effect on her and her family.

was a doctor on our doorstep with an ambulance and a crew ready to

take my mum. I can't remember his true words but it was along the

fact of, "pick out a coffin because if your mum does not come to

hospital with us now, she will not come out". I was only about 10 and

that is not really what you want to hear. I remember nights I would

wake up hearing her being sick in the bathroom. Sabrina once the

students to realise the impact her mum's anorexia has had on her. --

wants. She is reading a letter she wrote to her magazine when she was

just 14. Why are my dad was out, she would scrape three-quarters of

her dinner into the bin and Tommy not to tell him. They have been to

hell and back with me and I do question why they don't get angry

with me. I certainly get angry with My children's lives were fine, but

it was not normal. I am going to hold up a pair of

jeans... Nikki hopes her family's story will bring home the realities

of anorexia but she is well aware that nowadays, the pressure to be

thin can be overwhelming. How old would you say I was when I wore

these genes? 11? 12? These were my jeans two years ago. I think there

is definitely a pressure from the media because they're all these

models who are super skinny. There is a lot of pressure. It sounds

wrong to say it but I think I would rather go through that and be

skinny and be who I am now, if that makes sense. Look at my teeth.

You have to be happy with the person you are inside. But with so

many negative views a round of models and everything like that, we

are all looking for something that is not existent in the first place.

How many of you are going to get up in the morning and have breakfast?

Today went really well. The students were really taking notice,

which is what we want. I liked the hands going up at the end, saying

they were going to eat breakfast. Hoping it is going to shock them

but not in a negative way. Shock them in a positive way to the point

of really thinking how their bodies should be working. It was the

desire to raise awareness that drove Nikki to start a campaign but

now she has come to London to visit a specialist clinic to learn more

about anorexia and how it should be treated.

Professor Bryan Lask is President of the Eating Disorders Research

Society and instigated pioneering work on these illnesses at Great

Ormond Street children's hospital. To you think it is a good idea,

what I am trying to do in schools? A I think that works at an

educational level but the problem about an illness like anorexia

nervosa is that it is not a choice. It is a brain based disorder so

your genes run to you vulnerable. Something goes wrong in the brain

and that eventually Switches on in puberty. You get all these weird

ideas about yourself. You think you are fat when you or not and you go

on a diet because you cannot bear what you see in yourself.

professor feels that jobseeker's allowance would not have been ill

for so long if she had got the right help as a child. Eating

disorders are eminently treatable if you get in their early and treat

them correctly. -- Nikki would not have been ill. We need to

concentrate more when they I don't go to build it up. You need to

recognise the problem to start with. It is nice to meet someone with the

same issues. Somebody who knows only too well how hard it can be to

find the right treatment is Bristol University student Liv Byrom. After

10 years with the illness, she is now recovering, but ended up in

intensive care before she got the help she really needed. Basically,

to go and activists to treatment and you get put on the waiting list.

-- actively seek treatment. As you are on the waiting list, due to

climate so that you don't want treatment any more and then you are

forced into treatment, whereas what they've really need to do is give

treatment to people when they actually want it and need it.

get a wheelchair, Swindon won't know what is hitting it because I

will put a motorbike on the front! Nikki's and recovery is being held

by her to help prevent the illness taking hold in young students.

is how many tablets I have to take per year because of having every

bad eating disorder. Oh, my gosh! Make as much noise as you want

because it is something I am passionate about. What happens to

me happened to me but isn't it better that we protect the future

generation? In our final film tonight, we are

off to a fire station with a difference. The plan was to build a

revolutionary new venue for young people - and with a price tag of �5

million, it was certainly ambitious. But would it be ready in time for

its grand opening? For the last three years, a curious

grand design has been taking shape in the centre of Bristol. What was

once a fire station is on the verge of becoming a state-of-the-art

youth centre with a cafe, recording studios and a performance space. It

is a hugely anticipated budget. Now the pressure is on to be finished

on time and on budget. Where are we on the potential delay to the

building work? Everybody, including the project's young volunteers, is

starting to feel the strain. This discussion doesn't need to go on

any longer! Overseeing the redevelopment is Sandy from the

Creative Youth Network. Fraught someone whose background is working

with young people, is a building budget of this scale a step too

far? It is not a small DIY job. We have had to manage a �5 million

budget, which is far more than I have ever managed before. It has

really stretched our organisation. It has stretched the staff to their

limit and beyond. This is the more to performance-based... It is June,

four months before the building is due to open. With problems starting

to mount up, keeping the project on schedule is fast becoming Sandi's

primary focus. These are the original railings. The station is a

listed building, which brings a host of unique and expensive

problems. We have had to put new stone in because it is a listed

building. That is probably 20 grand. You end up spending 20,000 on any

wall at the top and that is �20,000 less for young people. But there is

better at news downstairs in what will be the new cafe. Indeed

solution has been found to a potentially very expensive problem

with the Kinton -- kitchen ventilation problems. We have now

had a ventilation system agreed and instead of going out the back, it

is going out the front. That is all sorted. Can you show me where it

will go? The kitchen is now laid out the way

we wanted to be and we are just deciding on final things like

colours and acoustic treatments in the cafe, and do we want a

biometric reader for young people's fingerprints or just a card swipe

system? So, basically, it is proposed to be a front door and

then people, when they come in and out, put their fingers on it.

group of young volunteers are helping to make the decision on

whether it is worth spending an extra �5,000 for a biometric entry

system. Why would you wanted? What does it do that is really important

to, that is worth �5,000? We need some kind of security system, so if

the card system is the most basic one... A what happens if you get a

cut and your finger and it is the finger you use? Fingerprints are a

waste of time. The card is fine. Who wants the card system? Vote,

guys. Card system? Card system? OK. The group may have just saved

�5,000 but where does that leave the overall budget shortfall? It is

partly how long is a piece of string? How good deal of the

equipment to be when you build a building? We reckon about �80,000,

as long as, over the next few months, the builders don't come

back to us and say, here is another problem. So, Sandy is bashing the

phone, desperately trying to raise money. He is hoping he may get and

�80,000 loan from Bristol City Council. But getting through to the

right person is harder than you think. OK, thank you, cheers. He is

out of his meeting but he is lost somewhere in the council office. So

When the station is open, responsibility for running a cafe

will rest with the local YMCA. It is July and Ben has arranged a

meeting with a group of young what form it -- furniture to buy.

But after 30 minutes, no young people have turned up. Let's call

it a day. Will work out another session.

It is August and Sandy has finally got his �80,000 loan from the

council. The bad news is that a few issues have come up and we are

potentially looking and needing another 50,000 to finish it. With

four weeks to go, most of the work has been done. It is frustrating.

Sandy and his team are having a crisis meeting with the building

contractors to thrash out he was responsible for the increased costs,

and to see if yet more savings can be found. It is no accusation. Why

are we being asked to pay for it? Was it Alf fault? It has been

installed as the drawing. vision is there. It is just a

matter of solving problems that come up. The light at the end of

the tunnel is there. If we can find another 20,000, we on our way. I

have come out of that meeting potentially �20,000 richer than I

went into it. Not me personally, of course! May be some tables to sit

round... Ben from the YMCA, and he has finally managed to have his

furniture meeting. So, with a very limited budget they are hitting

local charity shops. That's a bargain! �36 for a sofa? I am

excited about that. Let's do it! 75 It's now 18th October for, opening

day, and last-minute touches are being added before the guests

I am still in a hard hat, five hours away from the corporate

launch! We have quite a lot to do but we have got a good team so we

So, after more than four years of work, the station is finally ready.

It is party time and topping the HE WRAPS. I will support any

project that is positive for done people because they retires when

people don't get the opportunities. When I was younger, I didn't get

The thing that has happened over the last three days and

particularly today is a little bit of magic that is beginning to

happen, where young people from all across the city have all come

together and they are all mixing in a way that you don't really see

anywhere else. I hope that is just the beginning of what we can do

here. The station has now been open for a week and already is proving

That's it for this week. Before we go, just time to give you a quick

update on our investigation into Winterbourne be last week.

Following our programme, -- Winterbourne view. Following our

investigation, Avon and Somerset Police apologised to Ben Fuller's

family and said they have launched a fresh investigation.

For more details on that story and any others, follow us on Twitter.

If there is anything you want to tell us about, send us an e-mail.

Next week, we investigate a serial fraudster who has been posing as a