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Search forWindow cleaner will not return to prince's estate
Thursday, November 20, 2008, 11:30
Matthew Bell, aged 35, and two assistants were paid £1,200 to wash windows at Llwynywermod, near Llandovery, before Charles and Camilla's arrival in June.
In August, Mr Bell's past was exposed and he spoke candidly about how he was turning his life around.
The father-of-three, from Llandeilo, said he was jailed for four months for burglary in 2000, after he entered a holiday home. He also said he served 21 days two years ago for not paying fines after a road conviction.
Clarence House said at the time that a background check was not carried out on the contractor, who was supervised while he worked at the country home.
Mr Bell, who got the job when the Inside Out window cleaning firm he set up this year was recommended to a royal aide, had hoped to return to the estate to carry out more work in October.
But he said that when he asked about returning he was "shrugged off".
Mr Bell, in an interview with a national newspaper, said he had been told it was best if he didn't go back because of all the press coverage of his past.
A spokesman for Clarence House said at the time that the Duchy aimed to employ as many local people on the property as possible .
But a statement said: "Mr Bell was only employed for two days prior to the Prince of Wales taking up residence on the Llwynywermod estate.
"He was employed on a one-off basis and at no time has he been offered a permanent contract."
The 18th Century house and farm buildings, bought for £1.2 million by the Duchy of Cornwall estate on behalf of Charles in March 2007, are at the centre of 192 acres of idyllic rolling countryside.
He and Camilla stayed there for the first time during their annual Welsh tour this summer.
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