A WINSFORD law student was left £2,000 out of pocket after being conned by a rogue kitchen company.

Gifty Lewis, of Brackenfield Way, said she could not sleep, eat or study once she realised Bolton-based company In the Box Ltd was not going to fulfil its promises of a dream £6,000 kitchen.

After months of online research, Gifty, 37, decided to go with one company but was disappointed to hear they only covered as far north as Birmingham.

She said she was then contacted by another company, falsely claiming to be a subsiduary of the first firm, who promised to fit her kitchen in just four weeks rather than eight in exchange for a cash deposit of £2,000.

The 37-year-old, who also works full-time as a poultry specialist, said: “People say how could you be conned by someone like that but I did so much research and it’s not unusual for companies to have a subsiduary, it’s quite a common thing. I let my guard down.

“It was only when they kept failing to turn up to do the work and I rang the company I though I was with that the whole thing became clear.

“And my exams were coming up so when they said they could do it in four weeks, I just jumped at the chance.”

Trading Standards received 33 complaints about the firm – which took almost £50,000 from customers for kitchens that were never delivered.

It was wound up at the High Court in the public interest following a government investigation into its conduct last week but its sole director, Philip Hill, is now working for De Vinci Improvements in Bournemouth.

Gifty tried to get her deposit back through the small claims court but is yet to see a penny.

She said: “Even if I don’t get my money back, I want to stop this happening to someone else. I’ve spent so much money going after this guy, the stress I have been through I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I couldn’t sleep, I was frantic waiting for a cheque to come.

There is a loophole in company law where people can just set up a limited company and dissolve it as they see fit.

“MPs need to get together and pass a law to get this to stop.”