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Crime Solicitors

Hotel directors disqualified for total of 28 years for misconduct (2 December 2016)

Date: 02/12/2016
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Hotel directors disqualified for total of 28 years for misconduct

The directors of a hotel company have been disqualified for a total of 28 years, after an Insolvency Service investigation.

Siblings Andrew Christopher Hughes, Stephen Anthony Hughes and Julie Savage were disqualified for a combined period of 28 years for misconduct as directors of Heritage Properties & Hotels Limited.

The company was a family-run chain that traded through a group of four hotels – The Crab at Chieveley Hotel, Churston Court Hotel, Newbury Manor Hotel and Park House Hotel in the Devonshire area.

Heritage Property & Hotels Ltd (HPHL) was incorporated on 5 July 2007. HPHL was placed in administration on 31 October 2014. On administration, outstanding creditor claims were £8,049,537.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation found that Andrew Hughes and Stephen Hughes continued to act in the management of Heritage Properties & Hotels Limited, despite being previously disqualified from doing so.

They negotiated loan agreements of more than £3.5 million and created obligations for the company which remained as outstanding liabilities in the administration.

Their sister, Julie Savage, failed to ensure that adequate trading and accounting records of the company were preserved and delivered for the company, instead of being deliberately destroyed.

Andrew Hughes was previously disqualified on 4 October 2010 and Stephen Hughes on 25 May 2006. The current disqualification means that they are banned from acting as a director or in any way managing or controlling a company until at least May 2028. Julie Savage is disqualified from acting as a director until 2023.

Chief Investigator, Investigation and Enforcement Services at The Insolvency Service, David Brooks, said:

“This investigation was hampered by the destruction of records, but it was eventually possible to show the involvement of Andrew and Stephen Hughes, who were acting in contravention of their disqualifications.

“If people are disqualified, but then act or do so through others, the consequences for them are likely to become serious – including prosecution and personal liability.”

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