Hard cell for cold call boss

The single word I used to sum up Darren Bullough’s company when I last wrote about it was “hateful”. Direct Assist Ltd inflicted phone calls on the rest of us about making accident claims, even targeting people registered with the Telephone Preference Service. Now 46-year-old Bullough has been jailed for 21 months for fraud after removing money from the company after it was wound-up and still owed the taxman almost £660,000. Bullough, who lived in a mansion in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, siphoned off £51,000.

John Fitzsimmons of the Insolvency Service said: “Not only was this money not his to do with as he pleased, but by removing the funds, he denied payment that was rightfully owed to the company’s creditors.”