A charity worker and the Probation Service have been criticised after criminals on community service were used as manual labourers to help repair a private driveway.

Simon Hedden, a 54-year-old driver for the Wimbledon Guild, paid the Probation Service £400 to provide a supervised team of people serving community orders to dig up his front garden – over five days – to prepare it to be retiled.

The London Probation Trust (LPT) has admitted the work did not meet its criteria, and a neighbour of Mr Hedden’s, of Shaldon Drive, Lower Morden, who did not want to be named, said she was angry criminals were used for manual labour on private property.

She said: “I just think it’s immoral and dangerous.

“I know they’re not murderers but they could well be shoplifters and I don’t think we should allow them to do what professional builders should be doing.

“It’s not a community centre or a train station, it’s a normal person’s house. I don’t see what benefit it serves our community.”

Mr Hedden staunchly defended his decision to contact the PS about the work and said he found out about it from a friend who worked for the organisation.

He said: “Obviously it gives them something to do, it’s useful work. I think three of them were actually ex-builders and they didn’t give us any trouble.

“I don’t think it’s wrong at all. We should be giving people a second chance to give something back to the community. It helps me and it helps them and that’s what the big society is all about.”

Mr Hedden’s mother, Lucy Hedden, is one of the leading members of the Glebe Court Residents’ Association that commissioned the work, according to LPT.

Mrs Hedden is the widow of former Merton councillor Maurice Hedden, who represented Phipps Bridge ward and founded the residents’ association which, following his death, set up an annual award in his honour – the Maurice Hedden Tenant Participation Award.

An LPT spokesman said they had not made any profit from the work being carried out and explained the £400 fee was used only to cover the cost of the supervisor and any tools or materials used.

But the spokesman accepted it had made a mistake in accepting the work, claiming it had been applied for by the Glebe Residents’ Association, based in Mitcham.

He said: “We accepted this project nomination in good faith, however, on this occasion, we accept the work did not fully meet all the criteria for a community payback project.

“We will be reviewing procedures to ensure any future work fully meets that criteria.”

WHAT IS COMMUNITY PAYBACK?

Community payback schemes, run by the probation service, typically involve people serving community service undertaking work that is deemed for the benefit of the community.

In July 2005, Action in Merton - a Community Payback project with Merton Council - was officially launched and each Thursday Payback work is undertaken each Thursday, having completed 300 sessions in that time.

The group consists of up to seven offenders who have been assessed as low-level criminals and work varies from working on allotments, painting and cutting back alleyways before they are gated, assisting at churches and working on school buildings during the holidays.

The Payback teams cannot undertake work that should be done by the council e.g. offenders cannot be asked to clean a public right of way, but the Probation Service do now allow for 'paid' jobs as they are looking for ways to generate income to help keep the services running.

A spokeswoman for Merton Council said: “The reaction to the work the teams do is positive and they often get positive comments and thanks from local residents who live in the area or see them out working.

“It also helps some of the offenders find a new path or help them in the future.

"There have been a couple of examples where offenders have carried on volunteering as they enjoy the work and from there have been more easily be able to get back into working life again.”

The next Action in Merton event, on Thursday 21 July in the area around Acacia Road/Clay Avenue in Figges Marsh, will be from 10am to 2pm and will be attended by Safer Merton teams (More information is on the council's website at merton.gov.uk/aim).

Other projects have included re-painting a graffiti-blighted substation in Phipps Bridge (Mitcham) clearing up a garden and helping to create a allotment style space at Aragon School (Morden) and tidying up Waterside Way in Wimbledon Park.

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