Tradespeople have rallied round to help a family make their house "watertight" - a year after they hired and were then threatened by a rogue builder they named and shamed on Facebook.

Since November 2019, Vicki Mileham, 51, and her 14-year-old daughters, Ruby and Ellie, have been living in "chaos".

Despite Ms Mileham transferring nearly £80,000 to Kyle Muir and Reece Lloyd for an extension at their Belton home, they were left with work which had to be demolished.

%image(14522751, type="article-full", alt="Kyle Muir appeared in Norwich Crown Court on January 19 for harassment charges against a former customer, assault, criminal damage, affray and possession of an offensive weapon")

Muir was sentenced on January 19 to 12 months in prison for harassing Ms Mileham and her partner, Ash Paniri, as well as assaulting his ex-girlfriend and threatening police.

Ms Mileham said: "Given the trail of destruction he's left behind, I'm not at all reassured by the sentence or restraining order. He's clearly got no respect for that kind of thing.

"I'm already starting to feel jittery knowing he'll be out in under a year. It's a good thing we've still got CCTV."

But moving forward, the Mileham family feel positive.

"Even if the place looks horrible, at least it's finally watertight", Ms Mileham said.

%image(14522752, type="article-full", alt="Mr Paniri said the build was "coming along nicely" after all the previous work had to be demolished")

"Thanks to everyone's amazing generosity my house is becoming functional again.

"We've had neighbours give up their time to do the bricklaying, a plasterer who gave us a solid two days free of charge.

"A few builders in the village - Marcus Daldry, Darien Hutchinson and Brandon Symonds - did work for nothing.

"Simon Storey, who owns SJS roofing company in Belton, gave us tiles as a Christmas present.

"He said he wanted to show everyone that not all builders were clowns, which of course we already knew.

%image(14522753, type="article-full", alt="The roofing tiles were donated to the family by a businessman within the village")

"It's the only thing keeping us going right now, as the debt means I can't afford to save. I'm working six days a week to pay off this mortgage."

She said the main things left to do were install the windows and fit a kitchen, because "one year without one was long enough".

Another plus is that the new-found love between Ms Mileham and Mr Paniri is still going strong.

Though living in Hemsby, Mr Paniri responded to the cry for help neighbours posted on Facebook back in March and began visiting Ms Mileham regularly to help with whatever he could round the house.

He said: "It was nothing specific that brought us together, and it's mad to think we didn't know each other this time last year."

%image(14522754, type="article-full", alt="Ms Mileham said progress was being made, even if it "looks horrible" for the time being")