Only months after a handyman employed by Eastfield Guest House was jailed for 25 years for rape and sexual assault, Peterborough City Council was preparing to continue using the company that runs it to house homeless and vulnerable people under a spot-purchase housing arrangement.
Cabinet forward plan documents published by the council show that Eastfield Road Guest House was explicitly named as a provider in a proposed direct award contract designed to allow the council’s Housing Needs team to spot-purchase temporary accommodation to meet its statutory duties under the Housing Act 1996, as amended by the Homeless Reduction Act 2017.
The key decision, titled Spot Purchased Temporary Accommodation – KEY/25AUG25/02, was first published on 25 July 2025 and listed Eastfield Road Guest House alongside Charnwoods and Travelodge.
The decision was initially expected in September 2025 before being deferred to 3 March 2026. The proposal was ultimately marked as “abandoned”.
The inclusion of Eastfield Guest House in the forward plan came after the conviction of Ricky Lee, a 65-year-old handyman who abused his position at the guest house to rape and sexually assault women placed there by a local authority.
Lee was jailed in January 2025 following a trial at Cambridge Crown Court. The court heard that he had keys to every room in Eastfield Guest House, which accommodated vulnerable people including those with drink and drug addictions.
He raped one victim twice within hours of her being placed at the property in June 2022 and sexually assaulted others between November 2021 and May 2022.
Lee had previously been a resident at the guest house before becoming a handyman, carrying out odd jobs in return for lodgings in a caravan outside. He had access to room keys and CCTV systems, enabling him to identify when cameras were not working.
Sentencing Lee, Judge Andrew Hurst said: “It is inconceivable management gave you the responsibility they did, especially access to vulnerable people. You had keys to properties, and you knew which cameras were working. Always there, always watching, warning, and scaring residents.”
Despite the gravity of the case and the judge’s comments on management responsibility, council documents show that Eastfield Road Guest House was still being considered for ongoing use as temporary accommodation through spot purchasing.
The proposal formed part of a wider housing procurement framework that has since been exposed as deeply flawed. A statutory report prepared jointly by the council’s monitoring officer and section 151 officer revealed that more than £17 million was spent on spot-purchased emergency accommodation over nearly a decade without lawful procurement, written contracts, or proper decision-making authority.
Between 2015/16 and August 2025, the council paid approximately £17,406,954 plus VAT to third-party accommodation providers. The report found that these payments were made without compliant procurement exercises and without approval under the council’s constitution.
The report concluded: “In the present case, the failure to properly procure the providers appears to contravene an enactment as does the council’s failure to observe the contract rules. In addition, the payments by the council appear to be a contravention of a rule of law.”
It further stated that there did not appear to be any authority properly approved by the executive or any officer with delegated power to make the payments, rendering them unlawful.
The scale of the failures is significant. More than 27 providers received payments, with at least six arrangements exceeding £500,000 — a threshold requiring Cabinet approval and inclusion on the forward plan. In none of these cases were those requirements met.
The issue first came to light following a Freedom of Information request submitted in June 2025 asking when Eastfield Guest House Limited had been awarded a Cabinet-approved contract. The council confirmed that no formal contract existed, despite £1,291,119.50 being paid to the company in 2024 alone.
Internally, the FOI request triggered what has been described as a red flag. According to a confidential briefing seen by CambsNews, the proposed FOI response was reviewed by the council’s monitoring officer, who raised concerns about the lack of written contracts, governance and procurement underpinning the payments.
This led to a broader review involving finance, procurement, legal and senior officers, culminating in the statutory report now described as a “devastating indictment of gross mismanagement”.
While our article published today confirms that the council has now halted all spot procurements for housing, it fails to explain why Eastfield Guest House was still being considered for continued use in light of the court case involving a convicted rapist who had exploited vulnerable residents placed there by a local authority.
The forward plan documents demonstrate that Eastfield Road Guest House remained part of the council’s contingency housing arrangements long after the serious safeguarding failures associated with the property had been laid bare in court.
Ironically in the forward plan, the plan to direct award to Eastfield Road Guest House and two others included, under the heading of consultation, ‘none required’.
Payment data scrutinised by CambsNews shows that for the 12 months to December 31st, 2025, Peterborough City Council spent £645,000 with Eastfield Guest House: Fenland District Council recorded payments of £42,320 during the same period to Eastfield.
In their most recent abridged balance sheet Eastfield Guest House Limited, shows significant growth in tangible assets, rising from £4,488,341 in 2023 to £7,330,306 in 2024, reflecting substantial property and equipment investments.
Current assets, including stocks, debtors, and cash, totalled £2,075,372, up from £1,605,529 the previous year.
Creditors due within one year amounted to £1,650,106, while long-term creditors increased to £2,863,463, primarily bank loans, which rose to £3,071,180 (from £1,950,642 in 2023).
Provisions for liabilities stood at £186,762. The company’s net assets grew to £4,730,139, with retained earnings at £4,730,037.
