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Tag: Rikki Reynolds
Weep for Wales 17
On 15/06/2020 17/06/2020 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption82 Comments
I suppose that when I wrote the original Weep for Wales two years ago I assumed it would be a one-off; I certainly didn't think it would grow into a saga, with an ever-lengthening cast of characters. But here we are at Weep for Wales 17. Quite incredible.
What's more, to the untrained eye it might appear that I've vacated my keyboard to join the cast! Confused? Read on . . .
WHERE WERE WE?
Weep for Wales 16 came out 2 January and in it I told of a dispute between Paul and Rowena Williams, who had owned Plas Glynllifon since April 2016 and the Seiont Manor Hotel since December of the same year, and Myles Andrew Cunliffe, who stepped in towards the end of 2018 when the Williams duo ran into financial problems.
The two sides are now engaged in a curious spat that seems to be about Cunliffe not submitting accounts to Companies House for Plas Glynllifon Ltd. Perhaps even changing the accounts that were given to him by Mr and Mrs Williams to file with CH. As I've remarked, it was an odd business because the accounts referred to the period before Cunliffe got involved. They really had nothing to do with him.
(I should add that the accounts were given to Cunliffe because he has the codes needed for online submission to Companies House. But seeing as they must have the original I can't help wondering why Paul and Rowena Williams couldn't submit the accounts by post.)
For whatever reason, the accounts were not submitted and the case was heard 17 January.
When I read that headline I just had to go and lie down. 'Illegality and fraud'! Is Paul Williams suggesting that Myles Cunliffe is dishonest?
Whatever next? Will some scoundrel try to tell us that the supreme pontiff is not a Calvinistic Methodist; or that our ursine friends are guilty of sylvan defecation?
The judge seemed to lean towards Cunliffe, adding,
"There are fundamental underlying questions about the sale of the properties that cannot at this stage be resolved in these proceedings."
He added there are "fundamental issues of fact that have to be resolved".
Too true, boss; and the best of luck getting facts out of those involved. Facts! Did I just say facts?
Lockdown has now of course intervened to block any resumption of the case.
But let's go back a bit, to when Myles Cunliffe first appeared in Gwynedd, and the Daily Post described him as an 'investor'. Cunliffe himself had this to say in December 2018:
"We have the funding needed to complete the project that Paul and Rowena Williams have started.
"Work has slowed down at Glynllifon but this will change shortly, within four to six weeks, and will step up.
"I am a finance guy, I started up with car finance and have moved into property with a property investment company.
"I can bring the funds to make this project happen."
"The short term aim is to be open within six months as a hotel and wedding venue."
There were no weddings, no openings, nothing. Not a penny spent on Plas Glynllifon, while the going concern, the Seiont Manor Hotel, was run down with staff not paid. Seiont Manor soon closed . . . 'temporarily'.
Despite this 'temporary closure' being announced in early January receivers had already been appointed before Christmas, and Cunliffe would have known they were on their way even before then, so why the crap about 'temporary closure'?
Rural Retreats & Development Ltd, which owns Seiont Manor, has two directors, Paul Williams and Myles Cunliffe. There are seven outstanding charges against the company for various parcels of land and property, with further charges against Seiont Manor itself listed on the title document.
The mansion, Plas Glynllifon, is owned by Plas Glynllifon Ltd. Receivers were appointed 17 December (the same day as for Rural Retreats & Development/Seiont Manor). The company's directors are Cunliffe and Rowena Williams. There are eight outstanding charges with Together Commercial Finance Ltd.
Plas Glynllifon. Click to enlarge
The outstanding charges would appear to give Together Commercial Finance Ltd of Cheshire a claim on just about everything at Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor.
MYLES CUNLIFFE ET AL
You'll recall that when he first appeared Owen Hughes at the Daily Post reported, "Now Mylo Capital Limited – run by 'finance guy' Myles Cunliffe – has entered into a 50/50 partnership on Glynllifon and Seiont Manor"; and later in the same piece, "Mr Cunliffe has a background in car and property finance and is currently chairman of property development firm Etaireia Investments PLC".
So where are these companies today?
Let's look first at Mylo Capital. Despite Owen Hughes' encomium Mylo Capital, formed in September 2017, never really took off. It only ever filed accounts for a dormant company and now, with documents overdue, it appears to be drifting towards the rocks.
For a while, Cunliffe's co-director was Dennis Rogers, a sometime resident on the Isle of Man, who may have been involved with the funny money funding for the EU referendum campaign. I'm referring now to the £8.4m that Arron Banks can't account for. I wrote about Dennis in Weep for Wales 13.
One-time Brexit Party candidate Rogers has been involved with a number of companies that seem to enjoy a lifespan comparable to that of a mayfly.
The registered IoM office for a number of Dennis Rogers' companies was the white building, a former pub. The redbrick building was the address for Arron Banks' Rock Holdings Ltd, identified by John Sweeney of Newsnight as the conduit for the mysterious £8m used in the EU referendum campaign. Rogers was a nominee director of Rock Holdings, probably nominated by the person who gave the money. So who in Rogers' circle would have that kind of loot? Click to enlarge
The other Cunliffe company mentioned by Owen Hughes was Etaireia Investments PLC, which went into administration 1 July, 2019. Formed in March 2007 as Aquarius Media PLC (changing the name in 2011), with Cunliffe and Rogers joining in 2018.
Do you see the pattern? Companies get into trouble and along comes Myles Cunliffe offering 'investment' . . . but it never seems to work out for those who hope they're being helped. That's because Cunliffe and Jon Disley, the 'King of Marbella', and the man Cunliffe fronts for, are said to use the companies for their own purposes before letting them fold.
What are those purposes? This article might explain better than I can. I have grabbed a section of it from which you might recognise Cunliffe's modus operandi.
Yes, it's all here; diamond geezers, Costa del Crime, dirty money, Brexit, BritNats.
WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING?
In March it was reported that a considerable amount of scaffolding had gone missing from Plas Glynllifon. Paul Williams blamed Scousers (why does everybody pick on them?) and GogPlod is investigating.
Though things are rarely straightforward with these people. So I was not surprised to read Paul Williams suggest that the theft had actually occurred last summer. His theory being that the thieves took advantage of the scaffolding being dismantled by the equipment's owners to grab some for themselves.
Whatever the truth, it was nice to read about a bit of honest thieving at Plas Glynllifon.
'Now you see it . . . ' Click to enlarge
We established that the Seiont Manor Hotel is owned by Rural Retreats & Development Ltd, which has Paul Williams and Myles Cunliffe for directors. We also saw that the place is closed and that receivers were appointed 17 December. Yet there are, or have been, three other companies carrying the Seiont Manor name.
There was Gwesty Seiont Manor Ltd, set up by Paul and Rowena Williams in September 2016. Strike-off action began in February 2019 and was completed 21 May. The only accounts filed were for a dormant company. Another 'mayfly' company that appears to have done no business.
Then there was Seiont Manor Hotel Ltd, which enjoyed an even shorter lifespan, from 3 April 2018 to 10 September 2019. The only director was Rikki Reynolds and nothing was ever filed with Companies House. Remember Rikki, at one time the Williams duo's right-hand man?
Where is he now?
A trio of 'developers' looking over Plas Tŷ Coch, a property they never had the money to buy, let alone develop. Click to enlarge
The image above is from a Daily Post report of February 2018 in which we read that Paul and Rowena Williams had bought both Plas Tŷ Coch and Plas Brereton, near Caernarfon, with ambitious plans for these properties.
The truth was that they hadn't bought either property, and never did. It was yet more bullshit repeated verbatim by a desperate media.
Yes, I know the problem, journalists are overworked and don't have time to check things out. But even when the Daily Post knew the truth about Paul and Rowena Williams it still kept publishing blurb after blurb that could have been dictated by the Gruesome Twosome themselves.
An all too common problem; almost as if the Welsh media is under some political directive to publish only good news, even when it's lies.
The third company we should look at is still in the land of the living, it is Seiont Manor Ltd. Incorporated as recently as 4 January 2019 with Myles Cunliffe as the sole director. But he pulled out in November and responsibility for this thriving concern fell on the shoulders of Thomas Jacob Hindle.
Do you remember Tom?
I originally thought that he was working for Paul and Rowena Williams and then 'transferred' to Cunliffe as his involvement increased. But now I suspect that Tom Hindle was already associated with Disley and Cunliffe before arriving in Wales.
My reassessment is due to the fact that Hindle hails from Cunliffe's territory of north west England whereas the Williams' tend to recruit their 'associates' from their stomping ground in the Birmingham and West Midlands area.
Hindle seems to have showed up at Seiont Manor Hotel around the time Cunliffe got involved.
Which might explain why Hindle was allowed to live in the seven-bedroom property alongside Fronoleu, near Dolgellau. Though it made getting to work in Caernarfon quite a commute. Is he still there? Maybe I'll pop up and see.
Tom Hindle is almost certainly the 'postman' who delivers the threatening letters I have received from Myles Cunliffe. Here and here.
Fronoleu. The house is to the left and out of shot. Click to enlarge
Fronoleu is owned by Rural Retreats & Development Ltd which, as we've seen, is in the hands of receivers. No purchase price is quoted on the title document because the word is that Paul Williams bought the property at auction for over £300,000 and paid in cash.
There are two charges against Fronoleu with Together Commercial Finance Ltd.
Myles Cunliffe seems to have withdrawn from many companies over the past year, including one he'd been involved with since 2007, Lifestyle 4u Finance Ltd. Another company he's left, one formed only last October, is Gen 5 PLC.
Though one company he is still involved with is Get me Finance Ltd. Apart from a brief appearance by faux Manxman Dennis Rogers Myles Cunliffe has been the only director since the company was formed in January 2010.
This, presumably, is the 'car finance' company Cunliffe alluded to in the interview with the Daily Post in December 2018. And yet, it's difficult to see how, or why, this company stays afloat.
The most recent (micro-entity) accounts show net current assets of £52,644, but even this is an improvement of twenty grand on the previous year.
That's what sticks out a mile. Legitimate companies file audited accounts showing income, expenditure, creditors, debtors, turnover, tangible assets, payments to HMRC, staff wages, etc., etc. And then you look at the companies that get mentioned on this blog and they're the commercial equivalent of Mother Hubbard's cupboard – bare!
Yet those connected with these companies drive around in brand new Range Rovers, live in big houses, and splash the cash like inebriated seafarers.
JAC JOINS THE GANG!
In Weep for Wales 16 in January I reported that Myles Cunliffe and Tom Hindle had gone into the fitted kitchen business. Well, not really, it was the old MO of sniffing out companies in trouble.
One of those companies was Waterford Interiors Ltd. Which had begun life as Glynllifon Mansion Ltd in January 2019, became Waterford Interiors in December, and then, last week, the company name was changed to my name and post code.
As is now the practice, Cunliffe ceased to be a director in November and was replaced by Thomas Jacob Hindle.
As you can imagine, once I was made aware of this I contacted Companies House and told them that this had been done without my permission and I wanted it changed immediately.
I also contacted my political representatives and North Wales Police.
(UPDATE 16.06.2020: North Wales Police Victim Support Unit phoned me last week soon after I'd made my complaint, and yesterday a police officer phoned. We discussed the case and he was as amazed as I that Companies House allows this kind of thing. I suggested harassment but he seemed to say it needs more than one incident to qualify. So let's wait and see.)
The Companies House response said:
'Dear Mr Jones,
Thank you for your email regarding the above named company.
Whilst I have noted your comments and appreciate your concerns, the name in question was properly accepted for registration, as it does not contravene any of the provisions of section 66(1) of the Companies Act 2006. Therefore, we do not have the power to remove the company from the register or direct it to change its name.'
And that's it, you can give a company any name you like.
I've commented before that Companies House is nothing more than a filing exercise. All that matters is that companies file documents on time, even if those documents are lies from beginning to end. Or contain no information at all.
Which explains why a bunch of clowns naming a company after me is perfectly legal. Now I have to worry about what that company bearing my name may be used for. What a system!
But as I've said before, financial crime is ignored in the UK. Though what else can you expect from a state that maintains the fiction of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands being almost independent, and also has responsibility for most of the offshore tax havens around the world? A global dirty money economy co-ordinated from the City of London.
Financial crime is seen as 'victimless'. And once money is in the system buying expensive cars, big houses, jewellery, 92 inch televisions, Bang and Olufsen sound systems, holiday homes, private education, etc, nobody gives a shit that it might have been made from drug trafficking, money laundering, child prostitution, or selling weapons to rogue states and terrorists.
What a system. What a state. What a reason to get out.
Before this latest brush with fame I had (metaphorically) mounted my horse, said, "My work here is done", and was about to ride off into the sunset . . .
But once I saw what some twat had done I wheeled my nag around, interest rekindled.
If anything I've written here is factually wrong, and can be proved to be so, then I will correct the mistake.
Threatening letters, however, will be handed to the police; and solicitors should save themselves the bother of writing, no matter how much they're being paid. (And make sure you are paid, because those who 'star' on this blog are infamous for their reluctance to pay what they owe.)
On 18/03/2019 18/10/2019 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Tourism, Welsh Government, Welsh Media21 Comments
EXPLANATION: This post was originally put up on March 18 and taken down after I received a hand-delivered letter after dark on March 26. Having now given the matter considerable thought I have reinstated this posting and will continue with the Weep for Wales series.
A short explanation was posted in place of Weep for Wales 12, which garnered the comments you'll see prior to the reposting on August 25.
It was taken down for a second time after another threatening letter from Myles Andrew Cunliffe on August 28, and reposted after a minor revision.
Those who follow soap operas will be familiar with new characters appearing and old favourites being written out. And so it is with this saga that began with Paul and Rowena Williams. For as they (appear to) slip into the wings new figures take to the stage.
As I always say at this stage – and if you have a couple of hours to spare – you might want to catch up with previous instalments: Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5, Weep for Wales 6, Weep for Wales 7, Weep for Wales 8, Weep for Wales 9, Weep for Wales 10, Weep for Wales 11 and Weep for Wales 11A (section 2 of a larger post).
PREVIOUSLY . . .
We left the story, at Weep for Wales 11A, having just met the latest addition to the cast in the form of Myles Andrew Cunliffe. So how is Myles settling in, and what have we learnt about him?
On 19 February Companies House was notified that Rowena Williams ceased to be a director of Rural Retreats & Development Ltd, the company that, apparently, owns Plas Glynllifon. This leaves Paul Williams and Myles Cunliffe as directors. Though the 10,000 shares are divided equally between Rowena Williams and Mylo Capital Ltd, which is of course Cunliffe's company.
Gwesty Seiont Manor Ltd is in the process of being struck off. And as I also reported in Weep for Wales 11A, the registered office address for Seiont Manor Hotel Limited – sole director Rikki Reynolds – has moved from Plas Glynllifon to the office of accountant and convicted fraudster John Duggan in Leintwardine, Craven Arms. And now there is a third company using the Seiont Manor name in the form of Seiont Manor Ltd, which has a Manchester address and Cunliffe as sole director.
We also learnt that staff were not being paid at Seiont Manor. And the news spread within the industry to the point where warnings were being posted on social media.
What I may have neglected to mention is that Plas Glynllifon Limited, which owns the mansion and some land around, for which Paul and Rowena Williams 'paid' £630,000 in 2016, now has three directors; the gruesome twosome and Cunliffe. The registered office address for this outfit has also moved to the Manchester address used by Cunliffe, but nothing has yet been filed with Companies House to tell us how the shares are allocated.
Also worth noting is that there are no less than eight outstanding charges against Plas Glynllifon Limited, all held by Together Commercial Finance Ltd.
NEW PLOT LINES
You'll recall that in Weep for Wales 10 I reported on the former member of staff, a disabled man, who'd taken Paul and Rowena Williams to an Industrial Tribunal and been awarded £27,907.42. The details are here.
Well, there's been another case and this time the award was just under £12,000.
You'll notice in the report Paul Williams claiming he didn't turn up in court because he didn't realise the case was on. The implication being that had he known he would have scampered to the court-house, camped outside overnight, and then exposed this scalawag trying to besmirch his impeccable reputation.
This is pure Paul Williams. Whenever he's called to an 'awkward' interview or meeting he avoids attending with some silly excuse – he's gone down with Yellow Jack, been trampled by a runaway rhino, abducted by aliens . . .
The bloke is such a liar he should try his hand at writing. He could be the next Jeffrey Archer.
It should also go without saying that neither of those former employees awarded money will ever see a penny – for on his way to the bank Paul Williams will be ambushed by Jesse James and his gang!
Another piece of important news is that the Administrator's progress report for Leisure & Development Limited came out last week. Here it is full. Section 1.1.2 says a lot about Paul and Rowena Williams. As does 1.1.7.
While I'm not holding my breath, 1.2 does offer hope that these bastards will get the comeuppance they deserve.
Interesting for its omission was any mention of the eleven million pounds earlier claimed by Paul and Rowena Williams, a sum that made them the biggest creditors. Because, you'll recall, they said they'd sold Leisure & Development Limited to convicted fraudster Keith Harvey Part(d)ridge for £11m just before the company went belly-up but never saw the money.
All that's left of the Williams empire in Gwynedd appears to be poor neglected Fronoleu, near Dolgellau. A Seiont Manor employee still lives in the seven-bedroom house near to the former restaurant, but his dreams of taking over a refurbished Fronoleu – which is what he was promised – have gone up in smoke.
Though maybe I shouldn't say that, because I've had reports of a couple of suspicious fires associated with Paul Williams. One recent report tells of a fire at Plas Glynllifon:
" . . . there was a fire at the Plas on the Saturday before Halloween . . . all the students had left for half term . . . the fire which was in the courtyard at the back of the mansion and . . . that fire would have burnt the whole house down without any doubt . . . it had started in a bin that held aerosols and paint cans . . . I saw a land rover . . . driving . . . right by the fire, he could not have missed it. I presumed he (the driver) would have called the brigade . . . they had not received a call, and when . . . fire brigade arrive the same land rover drove quickly away from the mansion . . . ".
This could be dismissed as an accidental fire witnessed by someone with an over-active imagination, were it not for the timing. For by late October Paul and Rowena Williams knew their canoe was heading not for Goa but Shit Creek.
They were desperate. And that explains why, just a short time after the fire, Myles Andrew Cunliffe appeared on the scene.
Before leaving Gwynedd I should mention an e-mail I received from someone living near Fronoleu. The message said that the writer was distressed at the state of the (even more distressed) building and was prepared to buy it. So could I provide an address for the owners.
Fronoleu. Click to enlarge
All I could tell them was that I had sent my Christmas card (£20 note enclosed) to, 'Paul and Rowena Williams, c/o Seiont Manor Hotel, etc'.
Now we're off to Cornwall, from where I've also received a number of interesting reports.
The first suggests that Keith Harvey Part(d)ridge is buying the Garrack Hotel in St Ives and plans to turn it into 'accommodation' of some kind. Staff at the Garrack knew nothing of Part(d)ridge until someone did an internet search and came across the Weep for Wales series, now the staff are very worried.
Though the question remains, for whom is Part(d)ridge buying the Garrack? And how unsavoury does the real buyer have to be to use Part(d)ridge as a front man?
Another convicted fraudster who's done time is Stuart Paul Cooper who leases the Waves Bar from dissolved Leisure & Development Limited. A bit of a lad, Cooper, who likes to threaten people with violence or arson. (Often both.) Even though he runs the bar the drinks licence is obviously not in his name.
Waves Bar, Seaton, Cornwall. Click to enlarge.
The licence was originally held by Rowena Williams, who of course lived a few hundred miles away, so Cornwall County Council put a stop to that and it was transferred to Cooper's live-in girlfriend Donna Armstrong, or Westmorland, or whatever name she might be using at any given time.
Companies House seem to know her as Armstrong and she was a director of the Waves Bar and Restaurant Limited, a company set up in April 2017 and dissolved in August 2018 without filing anything of note with Companies House. But then, in September 2018, she and co-director Richard Edward Mayfield set up the Waves Restaurant and Bar Limited.
Doesn't anyone at Companies House think that's a bit suspicious?
There is a third company, with Anderson as sole director, and this is Waves Resort and Leisure Ltd, Incorporated in September 2018. The other two can be dismissed as shell companies, but this third company has a single £25,000 share, which is intriguing.
(Cooper of course is disqualified from serving as a company director.)
Stuart Paul Cooper, has been imaginatively described to me as a 'nose hoover'. Rikki Reynolds, who's been running Seiont Manor, has a similar liking for the white stuff. And that's not the only similarity, for here's a story about Reynolds I was sent a while back but agreed to sit on. I've now had clearance to use it.
Talking of cocaine and similar substances, it is even suggested that the Waves Bar might be an entrepôt for exotic goods from faraway places landing at Looe.
Before leaving Cornwall, and Looe, I should remind you that there is still Polvellan Manor Ltd which presumably owns the property of the same name. Partdridge is the sole director, but the shares are split equally between him and Paul and Rowena Williams.
Also based at Polvellan Manor is Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd, which the gruesome twosome tried to dissolve last year. The sole director here is the mysterious Michael Jones.
AND THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE CAST
Now let's turn to the new star of the show, Myles Andrew Cunliffe, who seems to have taken over both Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor, though official paperwork is still scarce.
As I've mentioned previously, Cunliffe's early background is in personal finance and second-hand cars.
As is my wont when looking into the background of someone like Cunliffe I like to draw up a list of the companies with which they've been involved. And that's what I've done. Here's the document in pdf format with the company name acting as a hyper link.
I'm also making the document available in png format. The links don't work of course but some of you may find it easier to follow. I suggest you keep it open in a different window.
If we look at the document – ordered by date of company formation – we see that the early companies were in the personal finance and second-hand car sector I mentioned. But then, from late in 2011, there's a switch into property and freight. The two are separated by a black line.
Now let me explain the colouring. The ones shaded in blue are Williams companies that Cunliffe has taken over. The ones at the bottom, in pink, are perhaps replacement companies recently formed by Cunliffe. The ones shaded yellow are companies where Cunliffe's arrival coincided – almost to the day – with the leaving of Baron Alex Bloom. (Of whom more in a minute.)
The unshaded companies are either dissolved, in the process of being dissolved, or else too new to know much about.
Right, so who is Baron Alex Bloom? An internet search throws up any number of stories about this colourful character, starting here in 2003. But after time in jail this millionaire's son 'bounced back' in 2006. And to bring you up to date here he is in 2018 being accused of dishonesty by a judge during divorce proceedings. 'Shome mishtake, shurely!' as Lord Gnome would put it.
Picture courtesy of Daily Mail, click to enlarge
I'm not quite sure how this works, but if you check the chronology, you'll see that Cunliffe very often becomes a director just before a company goes under. He's almost like a priest called in to administer the last rites.
And that, I strongly suspect, is what's happening in north Gwynedd. Cunliffe hasn't been brought in to rescue Paul and Rowena Williams, there'll be no money invested in Plas Glynllifon or Seiont Manor; he's there for other reasons.
When you look through the property and freight companies Cunliffe has been involved with you're immediately struck by the lack of what Woody Guthrie called the 'Do Re Mi', the moolah, the greenbacks.
It's interesting that the Daily Mail account of the divorce proceedings makes clear that Mrs Bloom comes from a wealthy Russian family. Which means that for a while at least Baron Alex Bloom had links to serious Russian money. Maybe he still has.
Through Etaireia Investments – of which Bloom was and Cunliffe remains a director – we find links with the Oyston family estate. The name Owen Oyston will be familiar to football fans and to readers of Private Eye. This article from the Guardian will give you a flavour of the man.
This is not so much a dramatis personae as a cavalcade of grotesques.
UPDATE 20.03.2018: A cavalcade that has been joined by Jonathon Disley who, I am reliably informed, has stayed at the Seiont Manor more than once recently.
THE BROTHER WE NEVER SEE ON SCREEN?
What I also found intriguing was that among the directors of Goldmann and Sons PLC we find a Neil George Cunliffe, some ten years older than Myles Andrew Cunliffe. Are they related?
So what do we know of Neil George Cunliffe?
His Linkedin profile takes us back to 1997 when he was a sales director for a timeshare company on Gran Canaria. He still lives in Spain, in Marbella, and is now a Spanish citizen, though his Linkedin profile does not list all the companies with which he's been involved. I'll try to fill in the lacunae.
Goldmann and Sons PLC Incorporated 24.07.2015. ('Financial intermediation not elsewhere classified. Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified'.) Neil Cunliffe was a director from 03.04.2018 to 06.05.2018. Myles Cunliffe was a director from 16.03.2017 to 19.10.2018.
The Vanguard Group Limited ('Development of building projects'.) Incorporated 12.01.2017. Neil Cunliffe was a director between 04.04.2018 and 28.07.2018. No accounts ever filed with Companies House. This company was dissolved 05.03.2019.
Cunliffe Rogers and Ellis Capital (Spain) Limited ('Central banking. Banks. Financial intermediation not elsewhere classified'.) Incorporated 14.03.2018, name changed from Goldmann and Sons (Spain) Limited in January 2019. Neil George Cunliffe was first and sole director until 01.08.2018 when he was replaced by Thomas James Ellis. No accounts yet filed with Companies House.
Vanguard Land Limited ('Development of building projects'.) Incorporated 17.05.2018. Neil Cunliffe has been one of the two directors since Incorporation. This company was floated with share capital of 1,000,000 £1 shares. Cunliffe holds 499,000 of the shares. No accounts yet filed with Companies House.
Arden Wealth Limited ('Management consultancy activities other than financial management'.) Incorporated 12.06.2018. Neil Cunliffe was one of the two founding directors and remains a director. This company was formed with share capital of £5,000,000 divided equally between the two directors. No accounts yet filed with Companies House.
Kenlife Consulting Limited (Management consultancy activities other than financial management.) Incorporated 29.10.2018. Cunliffe was the founding and sole director and holder of the single £1 share until 04.03.2019 when he was joined by a Dutch resident with an Arab-sounding name and an Omani. No accounts yet filed with Companies House.
Do you see the pattern here? – short-lived companies . . . forming and folding with no paperwork filed . . . people holding directorships for very short periods . . . foreign investors . . .
In my investigations I unearthed a whole stable of companies carrying the Goldmann label, and all follow the same pattern. They have either been set up very recently, which means it's too early for accounts, etc, or, if they're a few years old, then they've been dissolved. Either way, we know little or nothing about them.
Here's a list of the Goldmann companies. You'll see that a number of them have undergone name changes from Goldmann to Cunliffe Rogers and Ellis.
THE FINALE
Anyone hoping to see Plas Glynllifon become a top class resort hotel, with high-rollers flying in and out of Caernarfon airport; or the Seiont Manor Hotel get mentioned in the Michelin Guide, should wise up and realise that's not why people buy these properties.
And this doesn't just apply to the current owners. Or to these properties.
Image courtesy of Caernarfon airport, click to enlarge
For we have a problem in Wales that I have mentioned before. While we may not have many mansions as grand as Plas Glynllifon we still have thousands of buildings for which there is no viable commercial future, so they get bought by the kinds of people we've looked at in the Weep for Wales series.
And it's so easy.
On the one hand we have a self-styled 'Welsh Government', and local authorities – both bereft of ideas – desperately promoting tourism; to the extent that any shyster moving in and buying Neuadd Cwmscwt is hailed as the economic salvation of the area. Not only that – but he/she will very likely receive grants!
Then we have the local media. In the whole saga of Plas Glynllifon under Paul and Rowena Williams the Daily Post published one puff after another. To all intents and purposes the 'paper was acting as a PR outlet for these crooks. I can imagine the DP editor phoning up Plas Glynllifon on a slow news day and begging, 'Do you have anything you'd like us to publish for you, Mr Williams – anything!'
There are very few journalists left in Wales. Nobody seems to do background checks and ask the pertinent questions.
Finally, our police forces are overstretched and under-resourced, and no matter what they might suspect, they can do nothing. And anyway, sophisticated crimes like those we're looking at may be out of their league and their jurisdictions.
We are at the stage now where we, as a country, need to make decisions about grand buildings that serve no purpose, have no future, and fall prey to a succession of undesirables who arrive announcing grand plans that never come to anything.
Rather than allowing Wales to become a haven for asset-strippers, mortgage fraudsters, money-launderers, etc., it might be best to compulsorily purchase and then demolish places like Plas Glynllifon.
Shorts & Updates 05.02.2019; St Tatans, Weep for Wales 11a, the false economy of the third sector
On 05/02/2019 29/08/2019 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Common Purpose, Corruption, Englandandwales, Public Funding, Third Sector, Tourism, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour48 Comments
I've burdened you with a few heavyweight issues of late and now I'm going to make up for it with this relatively short piece in which I look at tourist tat, give a brief update on the Williams gang and new boy Myles Cunliffe in Weep for Wales 11a, before rounding off with an appeal for a better system than funding organisations that have no intention of ever dealing with the problem they're paid to deal with.
ST TATAN'S
As you know, every December I haul the old Jones carcass down to Cilmeri where the craic is good in the company of old comrades from the 1960s (though fewer every year), and this in no way detracts from the solemnity of the occasion, or the fiery speeches at the monument.
Among the regulars are some of our Breton cousins, one of them, Gwion, first came to Wales many, many years ago as a student teacher; a nice lad who unfortunately fell in with a bad crowd . . . that included myself. Ah! happy days.
After Cilmeri this year our Breton guests went to a number of castles and historic sites to soak up some history and culture before heading to St Fagan's. Where they intended spending money on Welsh goods.
Among their purchases was a scarf, a red, Welsh scarf. This was left in the bag until they returned home . . . when the full horror of what had happened was revealed.
You'll see that not only does this scarf carry the 'Ich Dien' logo of Charles Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, but it was made in China! Yet the receipt insists it is a 'Welsh' scarf.
After receiving the information and the photographs I got to wondering who could be responsible, who was guilty of perpetrating this deception in our name, so I did some checking.
The receipt mentions 'NMGW Enterprises Ltd', but nothing comes up for that name on the Companies House website. Next stop was the website for National Museum Wales where, on the 'Corporate Partnerships' page (scroll down), I found this reference to NMGW Enterprises.
A bit more ferreting gave me the name I was looking for – Mentrau Amgueddfeydd ac Orieliau Cenedlaethol Cymru / National Museums & Galleries of Wales Enterprises Ltd. Here's the Companies House entry.
A number of things concern me, and should concern anyone who cares about Wales.
First off, looking at the directors of NMGW Enterprises, there is a worrying lack of Welsh involvement. (Even the auditors are in Walsall!) Which might explain why tourist tat made in China is being passed off as Welsh and damaging our country's reputation.
Seeing as NMGW Enterprises is owned by National Museum Wales I suggest that that body either reins in these cowboys or else removes from its website actionable lies about 'Welsh-made products'. Preferably the former.
And because the 'Welsh Government' has ultimate responsibility for our museums and galleries – and may even have appointed the directors of NMGW Enterprises – I also expect to see some action from that quarter.
Wales is supposedly going for up-market tourism and yet, at one of our flagship visitor attractions, people are offered rubbish you'd expect to see sold by a spiv down from London to capitalise on a rugby or football international.
WEEP FOR WALES 11a
This section was taken down after I received a hand-delivered letter after dark on the evening of March 26. This was obviously a 'We know where you live' kind of letter. After giving the matter further thought Weep for Wales 11a was reinstated on August 19.
Here's the letter I received.
I don't have enough material, yet, for Weep for Wales 12 but there is fresh information that needs to be made public. Let's recap . . .
Weep for Wales 11 appeared on 3 December and I updated it a few times, including just before Christmas after receiving a threatening letter from a solicitor, demanding that I remove everything I'd ever written about Paul and Rowena Williams. (Here's my response.) I've heard nothing more from the solicitor. I'll return to this intervention later.
The real news is that there's a new kid on the block and his name is Myles Andrew Cunliffe. He now appears to run both Plas Glynllifon Ltd and Rural Retreats & Development Ltd through Mylo Capital Ltd, a company with a single one pound share and nothing yet submitted to Companies House.
Though the 10,000 shares issued for each of Plas Glynllifon and RR&D are split equally between Mylo Capital and Rowena Williams.
Another company with which Cunliffe is involved is Etaireia Investments PLC, a company that was until March 2011 known as Aquarius Media PLC, with a Seychelles connection.
More recently Etaireia Investments has been in talks with the Oyston family estate. The name Owen Oyston will be familiar to football fans and to readers of Private Eye. This recent article from the Guardian will give you a flavour of the man we're dealing with.
On the same day he joined Etaireia Investments Cunliffe also became a director of Etaireia Holdings Ltd, a Scotland-registered company now lined up to be struck off due to both Accounts and Confirmation Statement being overdue with Companies House.
THE FALSE ECONOMY OF THE THIRD SECTOR
One defence of the third sector is that it 'takes up the slack' when central, devolved, or local government no longer provides a certain service, and to some extent that's true.
But there may come a point when it would make more sense to take that responsibility back 'in-house', where a service might not only be provided for less in terms of financial outlay but also in a way that made it more transparent in its dealings, and open to public scrutiny.
This thought has occurred to me a number of times recently. And it came back to me yesterday when I read this pitch in the Western Mail for more funding from the CEO of a homelessness business.
Let's start with the introduction, where it says, "Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of Wales' leading homelessness charity The Wallich, makes an impassioned call to recognise that our current systems of support to tackle the issue of rough sleeping in Wales clearly aren't working". And there are good reasons for why they aren't working, as I shall explain.
After being introduced as CEO of "Wales' leading homelessness charity" Ms Cordery-Bruce then, and rather confusingly, began her article with: "Across the UK, including in Wales . . . ". Why would the CEO of Wales' biggest such charity, operating solely in Wales, and writing about homelessness in Wales, have to put her thoughts into a UK framework for a Welsh readership?
It makes no sense unless you appreciate that the Wallich, like most third sector bodies in Wales, operates in an Englandandwales framework, throwing Welsh money at what are often transferred English problems. (Housing associations are particularly guilty in this regard.)
But of course the Wallich is not alone, for as the 'Welsh Government was only too pleased to tell me, there are no fewer than 48 homelessness charities / businesses operating in Wales.
I'm not for one minute suggesting that they're all as big as the Wallich, but the Wallich is not without serious rivals. With all of them soaking up vast amounts of public funding. To illustrate my point let me walk you through the latest available accounts for the Wallich. (Keep this pdf file open in a separate window.)
Let's start on page 8, where we see that the Wallich has £2,778,887 squirrelled away in investments. In addition, page 21 tells us that there is another £3,574,617 in readies. Whence cometh these shekels?
Well, page 29 informs us that in 2018 £7,981,735 came from the 'Welsh Government' and local authorities. Another £3,993,798 came from rents. This is clearly no hand-to-mouth charity, this is a serious commercial undertaking, and the commodity bringing in this money is homeless people.
That the Wallich is a big company and a major employer is made clear on page 31, where we learn that £8,019,182 went on staff costs (for 381 employees), of which Ms Cordery-Bruce herself pulled down £100,000+. (Though in the previous year the CEO who preceded Ms C-B seems to have been paid less than £80,000.)
To sum up, we have in Wales a homelessness industry made up of dozens of organisations, all reliant to a greater or lesser degree on public funding, and all with a vested interest in not solving the problem of homelessness because to do so would put them out of a job.
Which also means that if Wales cannot provide enough homeless then they will be brought in from England . . . as will the drug addicts, and the ex-cons, and the paedophiles and the problem families for housing associations and others.
Why does the 'Welsh Government' not put a stop to this obvious rip-off? Because there is electoral advantage to be gained from keeping Wales poor, which runs: 'Look at all the homeless . . . see how poor Wales is? . . . it's all the fault of them Tories . . . vote Labour!'
We have reached the stage where it would be far cheaper for the 'Welsh Government' to take direct responsibility in certain sectors currently exploited by an out-of-control third sector and bring down costs by actually solving the problem rather than by keeping it going for personal gain.
Because if Finland, a country not much bigger than Wales in terms of population, can solve it's homelessness problems why can't Wales?
Part of the answer must lie in the related facts that Finland has a government working in the country's best interests and Finland doesn't take in Russia's problems.
P.S. There was a double-page spread on homelessness in today's Western Mail, in which Ms Cordery-Bruce was extensively quoted. Here's the WalesOnline version.
On 03/12/2018 12/07/2019 By JacIn Corruption, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour, Welsh Media101 Comments
As promised, here's the latest instalment in the Paul and Rowena Williams Against the World saga (for that's how it begins to look). I had considered postponing this update, but so much information is coming in that I have to publish before I'm overwhelmed.
Now I'll say what I always say at this point: if you want the story (so far!) then you'll need to go back and work through Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5, Weep for Wales 6, Weep for Wales 7, Weep for Wales 8, Weep for Wales 9 and Weep for Wales 10.
For those who don't have time to read the previous ten episodes here's a quick summary.
Paul Williams and his wife Rowena are two crooks who built up a property portfolio by dubious means and then sold those properties to themselves at insanely inflated valuations in order to obtain loans and mortgages well in excess of the properties' true worth. This money of course they pocketed.
Soon after the phoney sales 'ransom strips' were detached from the properties and allocated to other titles. These properties were held by Leisure & Development Ltd, a company now in administration.
Paul and Rowena Williams, click to enlarge
This portfolio included properties in Cornwall and Northumbria but the gang's 'heartland' was Powys and over the border in Shropshire and Herefordshire.
They next branched out into Gwynedd, buying the woebegone Fronoleu hotel and restaurant near Dolgellau, the Seiont Manor Hotel at Llanrug, and the impressive Plas Glynllifon near Llandwrog. Posing as major property investors they also strung people along by showing interest in Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch, but after the truth emerged about them they were unable to raise the money to complete the purchase.
Realising the game was up, and having pissed off just about everyone they ever dealt with in the March they severed their ties and physically removed themselves to the Realm of Eagles.
In a further attempt to wash their hands of things Paul and Rowena Williams went through the charade of selling their Leisure & Development Ltd property portfolio for £11m to old friend, and convicted fraudster, Keith Partridge.
Having introduced Keith Partridge there are other characters we've met along the way who are worthy of mention. There's Paul Williams' sister, Debra Oswald, who seems to slip in and out of this saga, having served as director, partner, accountant, even creditor.
Paul and Debra's father Michael has a hotel business in Goa. (Though it may have been struck off.) It would be interesting to know how he gets on with the locals, because on issues of race and colour he is said to have been expelled from the KKK for being too racist.
We've already met one fraudster in the form of Keith Partridge, another in the ensemble is the Williams' accountant John Duggan. And if that wasn't enough, the Waves Bar in Cornwall is run for them by Stuart Paul Cooper, of whom more later.
Then there's faithful Rikki Reynolds, who runs the Seiont Manor. He drinks too much, he is dependent on drugs, but they keep him on. I refuse to believe the rumour that this may have something to do with Rikki being close to Rowena.
Not to be overlooked is Dudley Cross. His Linkedin profile would have us believe that he works for property specialists Lambert Smith Hampton, but he's been involved with Paul and Rowena Williams for many years. He served as a director (until 01.02.2018) of Leisure & Development Ltd, and even donned his peaked cap to act as guide for Plas Glynllifon's open day in June.
It is widely believed that it was his – and perhaps more especially, LSH's – imprimatur that persuaded lenders to accept the absurd valuations we shall soon examine in more detail.
In addition to being crooks, the Williams couple and Rikki Reynolds are repulsive individuals. They take pleasure in humiliating people. It sometimes seems that their greatest pleasure is derived from hurting those least able to defend themselves.
One such case was the treatment meted out to a kitchen porter at the Seiont Manor, a man with learning difficulties who had worked there for over twenty years, but Rowena Williams wanted him out.
It ended at an Employment Tribunal in September where the man was awarded £27,907.42 . . . money he is unlikely ever to see.
As might be expected, these odious creatures have been funded by the 'Welsh Government' and have received one uncritical report after another from the 'Welsh' media, with Owen Hughes of the Daily Post deserving of special mention.
Now read on.
PSST! WANNA BUY A HOTEL, GOIN' CHEAP?'
So what have I got for you this time? Quite a lot as it happens.
First, let's remind ourselves that the empire is crumbling and apart from the Gwynedd properties and a few outliers everything else seems to be in the hands of receivers and up for sale.
Those receivers being RSM, who are now selling the properties through the company Colliers. Click on the links for details for each of the properties: The Salutation Inn (and caravan site), near Berwick; The Waves Bar, in Cornwall; The Bird in Hand, Ironbridge; The Castle Inn (and caravan park), Wigmore; The Knighton Hotel, Knighton; The Radnorshire Arms Hotel, Presteigne.
Let us focus on the two Powys properties, as we have for most of this saga. You will recall that these properties were sold by Paul and Rowena Williams to Leisure & Development Ltd, and the prices they claimed to have paid in 2015 were £2,881,599 for the Knighton and £3,487,049 for the Radnorshire.
Radnorshire Arms Hotel, Presteigne, click to enlarge
RSM is now recommending sale prices of £550,000 (-£2,331,599) for the Knighton and £700,000 (-£2,787,049) for the Radnorshire. That's a fall of £5,118,648 . . . and of course RSM might not even get the prices they're suggesting, because there are plenty of pubs and hotels for sale at the moment, then there's Brexit looming, maybe a general election . . .
How do we account for such a massive drop in valuations?
As I explained, the earlier valuations were dreamed up in order to get loans and mortgages for properties that Paul and Rowena Williams already owned, but pretended to buy through Leisure & Development Ltd.
Equally fictitious was the sale of those properties earlier this year for £11m to convicted fraudster Keith Harvey Part(d)ridge.
Which is how we end up in the bizarre position of Paul and Rowena Williams appearing as creditors to the tune of £11m of the company they claim to have sold to Part(d)ridge.
But then, there's a certain symmetry to all this. Because if you can sell something to yourself why can't you owe yourself money?
The only good news for Paul and Rowena Williams might be that Dyfed Powys Police are not pressing charges. Though quite what Plod was investigating in relation to "the sudden closure of hotels" previously owned by Paul and Rowena Williams is a mystery.
The only clue in the Daily Post report is "Tourism Investment Support Scheme grants", which was never a runner.
FRESH NEWS, SAME OLD STORY
As I said earlier, I've received a steady trickle of information about Paul and Rowena Williams and their gang. Here are just some of the things I've been told since the previous instalment.
From an anonymous source:
"She (Rowena Williams) may well be autistic . . . She is morally empty, and I think that her son —— (who is a lovely lad) really deserves a more honest set of parents . . . I realise that this doesn't really count as a story, but I was so annoyed at the Radnorshire Arms ending up like it is that I wrote to you . . . I was actually hurt by the experience . . . Please keep up the good work!"
A recent comment to Weep for Wales 9:
Message to my 'Contact Me' box:
"Message: before i start I wish to remain anonymous about what I say. from November 2016, to November 17, I worked as ————————– for rural retreats and leisure, I can comfirn that HMRC had in fact been in touch with the Williams's prior, as in july 2017, myself, and all the other live in staff of the knighton hotel, where subject to an investigation, regarding how our rent was paid. after HMRC had come back with the decision that there had been wrong doings in regard to how our rent was being taken. they told the Williams's that we were owed back pay, as they were taking rent out of our wages as a deduction of wage, not as actual rent, of which became clear that I was being paid below the national minimum wage. shortly after this, the Williams's slowly starting to dispose of us. myself being fired for gross misconduct on made up allegations with no evidence whatsoever. they practically forced a family of 4 to find a new house in the area, and pushed the head chef in an attempt to get him to quit, effectively taking us all out of the equation. I have been following all of your weep for wales, and everything you have said makes complete sense. on the outside, Rowena pushes a persona of care for staff, but on the inside, both of them are only looking out for them selves. I hope this interests you in your continuing saga."
(A source with inside information was able to tell me that the total amount owed to staff was £58,594.)
Something you soon learn about Paul Williams and the "morally empty" Rowena is that they don't like paying staff, suppliers, tradesmen, anybody. What's theirs is theirs . . . and what's yours is also theirs.
It seems that creditors were encouraged to have meals and drinks at Paul and Rowena Williams' establishments, with the cost then deducted from the amount they were owed. One source tells me of walking into the bar of the Knighton Hotel one time and seeing nine creditors quaffing away!
Just picture it! Barmaid: 'Another large whisky, Mr Jones? That'll be £76, and it brings the amount Mr Williams owes you down to £5,732.68 – you'll soon be owing him!'
There is something surreal about such a scene, though trying to turn your creditors into alcoholics has a certain logic – they might forget about the debt!
And of course, another twist is that Paul Williams wasn't paying for the booze anyway! I've heard one sad story of a rep from Molson Coors being threatened with physical violence for daring to ask for the money he was owed.
A documented example I can give of Williams not paying his debts arrived last week from Grafters Group Ltd, a company that supplies staff to hotels. This company eventually had to resort to court proceedings in the hope of getting the money owed by Paul and Rowena Williams. Needless to say, they're still waiting.
Take Jac's advice: If you're selling to these buggers, supplying goods or doing work for them – make sure you're paid in cash, up front, and then check the notes to make sure they're genuine.
A number of times in this series I've mentioned the distressed Fronoleu hotel and restaurant at Tabor, outside Dolgellau, bought by Paul Williams at auction in 2015 for over £300,000 and paid for in cash. I also mentioned a seven-bedroom house alongside Fronoleu. Through another new source, I now know who lives there.
Fronoleu, click to enlarge
This person works for Paul Williams at the Seiont Manor, and as with so many other employees false declarations are made with regard to wages in order to save Paul and Rowena Williams money and cheat HMRC.
And yet, it seems Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are aware of the Williams Gang's tricks but are reluctant to move against them.
THE UGLIER SIDE
Paul and Rowena Williams are so transparently dishonest, so blatantly corrupt, that it's difficult not to laugh at them, but there is a nastier side to the operation.
We've seen that the Waves Bar in Cornwall is for sale, with RSM asking for "offers in excess of £500,000". Which seems reasonable, as it comes with "five apartments and a shop". Though few things are straightforward with Williams, and the Waves Bar is no exception, for I'm told there are questions over the ownership of some of those apartments.
For some time now the Waves Bar has been run by Stuart Paul Cooper. Another associate with a colourful past. He came unstuck in 2012 when working as a debt collector. This Insolvency Service document suggests he then went on the lam.
Cooper eventually appeared in court and was sent down for three years in 2014. Later that year Companies House disqualified him from being a director until November 2022.
But of course none of this was an obstacle to him being employed by Paul and Rowena Williams. Being a fraudster with a penchant for violence made Stuart Paul Cooper the kind of recruit they look for.
Picture courtesy of RSM, click to enlarge
The latest news from Cornwall says that Cooper is behaving true to form. He recruits young staff, overworks them, underpays them, sacks them, and when they come asking for what they're owed he threatens to kill them and anyone who dares to speak up for them.
Where the takings go from the Waves Bar is a good question. For there is a suspicion that since the collapse of Leisure & Development Ltd Cooper may be flying solo. Another question is whether suppliers are being paid.
But what really puzzles me is why liquidators RSM allow Cooper to remain at The Waves Bar, because the reputational damage this man is doing will not be put right by an 'Under New Management' sign.
A CAST OF CROOKS, THUGS AND SHYSTERS
You've met the leading players in this story, I've given you examples of what they've done and how they behave. I'm sure that like me you're wondering why they aren't behind bars where they belong.
For some reason the police, HMRC and others seem to look benignly on 'white collar' crime, they may even persuade themselves that such offences are 'victimless'. But that's wrong.
This gang has lied and cheated for years, and it's not just banks and other lenders that have lost out. Decent, hard-working people – often vulnerable people – have been exploited, cheated of money they were owed, thrown onto the street, and put in fear of their lives when they sought redress.
From a social media account of a Williams gang employee, click to enlarge
But these gangsters laugh at us all as they drive around in their new Range Rovers and their Beemers with personalised number plates. They take us all for mugs.
There is something very wrong with the legal system of Englandandwales that it allows such people to go unpunished, and to prosper. It's a system providing courts and tribunals that say, 'Yes, we agree that these bastards owe you money, we'll even fix the amount . . . but there's nothing we can do to make them pay'.
While police and governmental agencies look the other way when criminal offences are brought to light.
We obviously need a different system; a better system; a Welsh system.
APOLOGY: I'm sitting on a number of good stories that I'm just unable to do justice to because I don't have the time. Please understand that I'm not deliberately ignoring anyone, but as a one-man band with family and other commitments there's only so much I can do.
UPDATE 03.12.2018: Soon after publishing I had a rush of e-mails from Companies House. Paul Williams ceased to be the 'Person with significant control' for both Plas Glynllifon Ltd and Rural Retreats & Development Ltd on November 30. Myles Andrew Cunliffe is a new director of both companies.
Cunliffe is also a director of Lifestyle 4U Finance Ltd, net current assets -£3,949; Get Me Finance Ltd, net current assets £11,648, with the website telling us that this company offers finance to those with a poor credit rating, and Paul Williams definitely falls into that category; and finally there's Mylo Capital Ltd, Incorporated 20 September 2017.
Myles has been a busy boy in 2018. Between April and August he became a director of, and is is now sole director of: Pacha Sunderland Ltd; Etaireia Holdings Ltd (a company with a Scottish number); Girvan Dev Ltd; and Pacha Cleator Ltd. Then in October it was Network Transport and Logistics.co.uk Ltd.
Among Cunliffe's previous successes we find Goldmann & Sons (Portugal) Ltd, with Companies House awaiting documents; J D Finance Ltd, wound up in 2007; Welcome 2 Car Finance Ltd, struck off in 2016; and H.O.H. Assets Ltd, also struck off in 2016.
I'm sure young Myles will be a colourful addition to the cast.
FURTHER UPDATE 03.12.2018: A message to my 'Contact Me' box reads: "Im told paul is telling workmen that work available as he got a mortgage on the 30th nov".
I think we can safely rule out any possibility of Paul Williams getting a mortgage or a loan from a reputable lender, so it's reasonable to assume that any fresh money is linked with the arrival on the scene of Myles Andrew Cunliffe.
On 07/10/2018 04/02/2019 By JacIn Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Local Government, Media, Planning, Police, Public Funding, Tourism, Welsh Government61 Comments
When I wrote 'Weep for Wales' back on June 13 I never thought it would turn into the blogging equivalent of War and Peace, but here we are at number 10.
And if you want to know how we got here, if you want the full and unexpurgated story, then you'll have to wade through what has gone before: Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5, Weep for Wales 6, Weep for Wales 7, Weep for Wales 8, Weep for Wales 9.
In this latest episode I shall focus on two important matters. First, details of the liquidation of the Williams' company Leisure & Development Ltd; followed by an Employment Tribunal held last month that saw a former employee of Paul and Rowena Williams given a substantial compensation package.
But first, let's remind ourselves where we're at in Gwynedd.
HOLDING OUT ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
In the previous episode I let my imagination run riot and presented you with the image of Paul Williams as Jean Gabin in Le Jour se Lève, holed up in his grubby little room waiting for the cops. But I may have jumped a scene or two because a northern source tells me that the crook may not be finished.
While the purchase of Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch has certainly fallen through the odious couple still has crumbling Plas Glynllifon, not forgetting the Seiont Manor Hotel, where we find faithful family retainer Rikki Reynolds snorting away.
The other Gwynedd property, Fronoleu, near Dolgellau, owned by Rural Retreats & Development Ltd, seems to have been totally abandoned. Certainly the hotel/restaurant is left to rot, but the site includes a seven-bedroom house that is occupied.
The great obstacle to development here is that Fronoleu can only be reached by the single-track lane running between Dolgellau and the Cross Foxes junction of the A487 with the A470. It's highly unlikely that any traffic-increasing development will be allowed.
What my source directs me to on the sprawling Glynllifon estate is land and buildings owned by Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, operating Coleg Glynllifon. Specifically, the old stables, now used as the canteen. I'm assured that Williams is showing interest.
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai has said nothing throughout this saga, but unless there's a rabbit to pulled from the hat it's difficult to explain why Paul and Rowena Williams are hanging on at Glynllifon.
Unless it's because they have nowhere else to go.
'RANSOM STRIPS' AND RE-ENTRY PROBLEMS
A feature of Paul and Rowena Williams' behaviour is the practice of detaching a small section from a larger holding in order to make a separate title. This then compromises the value and desirability of the larger holding without the smaller section. And of course it correspondingly increases the value of that smaller section.
In such situations, the smaller section is usually referred to as a 'ransom strip'. This situation can often occur quite unintentionally, but in the case of the Williamses it is deliberate.
This charge, 0938 9316 0007, taken out by Rural Retreats & Development Ltd as recently as July, helps explain what I'm talking about. You'll see that it's made up mainly of 'ransom strips', small pieces of land compromising larger plots.
Let me further explain what I'm talking about with a specific example.
One of Paul and Rowena Williams' properties is/was the Castle Inn at Wigmore, just over the border in Herefordshire. If you look at this title plan it shows clearly the original boundary, but it's equally obvious that a chunk has been taken out.
This was done in 2015, that year when new companies were being formed, properties being bought and sold.
The main part of the Castle Inn, title number HE53573, is owned by Leisure & Development Ltd, the company in liquidation. The 'ransom strip', title number HE31873, is owned by Rural Retreats & Development Ltd, of Plas Glynllifon, directors Paul and Rowena Williams.
Moving back to Powys and the Knighton Hotel, it might seem difficult if not impossible to own a 'ransom strip' affecting a substantial building slap in the middle of town. But they've done it.
The hotel comprises both the stone building you see on the left and the half-timbered building on the right.
Within the Knighton Hotel Paul and Rowena Williams own the 'Norton Showroom' on the ground floor at the far right, a flat above, and it's also believed they have the run of the cellars. The flat is owned in their names and shown in blue in this title plan for the hotel. Here's the title document for the showroom or shop.
In Presteigne, at the Radnorshire Arms Hotel, the Gruesome Twosome still owns the old garage building and car park directly opposite the hotel. I'm told that there was once a plan for four town houses on this plot.
This town houses plan seems to have been drawn up but never submitted for planning approval. And I've heard of other schemes that never took flight. All of which adds to the image of Paul Williams as a bit of a fantasist, or as I described him in the previous post, "a sinister kind of Walter Mitty".
Radnorshire Arms garage and car park. Courtesy of Google Earth, click to enlarge
If they were to turn the Knighton Hotel shop into a dildo emporium, or allowed Travellers to set up camp in the Radnorshire Arms car park, Paul and Rowena Williams could make their former properties very unattractive to potential buyers.
But just owning these 'ransom strips' – coupled with their reputation for deviousness – may be enough to deter many buyers. And as I say, the situation we see today was planned years ago by slicing parts off the original titles, almost anticipating the scenarios I'm describing.
So I suppose that if nobody wanted to buy the properties, then Paul and Rowena Williams, or someone acting for them, might be able to buy them back very cheaply.
I've just mentioned Leisure & Development Ltd, the owner of these assorted properties being in receivership, so let's consider the latest developments.
An administrator was appointed on August 18 and the administrator's proposals became available on the Companies House website on September 20. These proposals are worth reading because they give quite a full run-down of the situation. Since then the proposals have been approved, though that document was not available on the CH website at the time of writing.
Under Section 2 'Events leading up to the administration', we read that, "The various properties were purchased between July 2015 and February 2016 for a total sum of £11,887,828 (as per documents registered at the Land Registry)." But then we read, for year ending 31 January 2018, the company had fixed assets of £16,894,195 (against £23,119,820 the previous year). While in Appendix C we read that the book value of the freehold properties is £13,908,979.
Let's look at the 2015 purchases. As we've seen, the properties 'bought' in 2015 were simply transferred from one Williams vehicle (usually their personal ownership) to another at greatly inflated prices in order to pull down mortgages and loans. For example, the stated purchase price of the Radnorshire Arms Hotel was £3,487,049. It's worth a third of that on a good day.
Inflated purchase prices were part of the scam, a way of laundering money. But if the properties were bought in 2015 at ludicrously high prices how can their book value today be even higher? Are the administrators afraid to have independent valuations done?
And if the properties were grossly overvalued in 2015 at £11,887,828 where the hell does the fixed assets valuation for 2018 of £16,894,195 come from? (And £23,119,820 the year before!) The answer is, Paul and Rowena Williams' trusty accountant, John Duggan, a convicted fraudster, who robbed an elderly widow of some £700,000.
In fact, the accounts for Leisure & Development Ltd are worth us dallying awhile. The first submitted accounts are for year ending 31 January 2016 and are the accounts for a dormant company, despite all the 'purchases' made in 2015. These accounts were submitted by Debra Oswald, Paul Williams' sister.
The next accounts, up to 31 January 2017, come from the dancing quill of John Duggan. Now we see a figure of £23,119,820 in fixed assets, and £23,906,551 owed to creditors.
Er, no, they were not 'purchased' because Paul and Rowena Williams already owned these properties. click to enlarge
Those creditors reappear in the administrator's report. First comes NatWest Bank plc, owed £6,202,405. Next in line is Together Commercial Finance (no sum stated). But Paul and Rowena Williams are also hoping for a strip of the carcass with a claim for no less than £11,751,698.
The money owed to Paul and Rowena Williams can only be the money from the 'sales' in 2015, when they sold properties to themselves at inflated valuations. Does this really count as an acceptable debt?
Think about it for a minute; what they're saying, in effect, is: 'We transferred properties from ourselves to a company we'd formed and of course we didn't pay anything – it was just a scam to get mortgages and loans – but we're still hoping someone will view us as legitimate claimants on the assets of our former company'.
This report we've looked at from the liquidators, RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP, is misleading as it relies on insane valuations and a fraudster's figures. This is either a mistake on RSM's part or else it suits someone's agenda to accept the Williams narrative and the Duggan figures.
Spaceship Williams should return to Earth when potential buyers are asked to make offers for the various properties. I guarantee no one will offer anything like £3.5m for the Radnorshire Arms, irrespective of whether the McGillycuddy clan is enjoying a hoolie in the car park.
STRAIGHT OUTTA DICKENS
I have commented many times on the contemptuous way in which Paul and Rowena Williams treat those who work for them, and being an absolute bastard is something that also comes easy to their trusted lieutenant, Rikki Reynolds.
And it's not just those who work for them that suffer; it's neighbours, suppliers, and just about anybody else they can take advantage of. The Williams pair and Reynolds believe they can do whatever they like, to whoever they like, whenever they like, with no consequences.
They often take a sadistic pleasure in humiliating people.
I think I may have mentioned a kitchen porter at the Seiont Manor Hotel, a man with learning difficulties, who was forced out last year after working there for over 22 years. Now I can give you more details and also tell you how that story developed.
The background is that Rowena Williams intimidated this poor man into accepting a reduction in his weekly hours from 30 to 9 and then dismissed him on August 9 2017. He went to the Citizens Advice Bureau and it all ended up with an Employment Tribunal at Mold on September 5 this year.
Below you'll see a financial summary of the verdict, and you can read the full document here, with the claimant's name and the case number redacted.
As I say, the tribunal took place on September 5, and as you read the Judgment you'll see that Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd has 14 days from the 'calculation day' of September 7 to pay the stipulated sum. If no payment is made within this period then interest of 8% starts accruing.
You'll note that no one from the Williams side turned up at Mold County Court, which is how they operate – they ignore letters and demands, they refuse to attend arranged meetings, they find excuses for not having complied with instructions: 'Oh, we didn't realise' . . . 'Nobody told us' . . . 'Obviously a misunderstanding'.
It's the old tactic of ignoring something long enough in the hope it'll go away; which it often does when you're dealing with local authorities and the 'Welsh' Government.
You'll also note that the judgment was made against Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd, yet this company changed its name on March 17 2015 to Polvellan Manor Ltd. And before becoming Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd in 2007 it was Mortimers Cross Inn Ltd, formed in 2002, this being the Williams' original company, and indeed their only company until 2015.
Seeing as this was the company name on the dismissed kitchen porter's pay slips it means that Paul and Rowena Williams were still using a company name that had been changed over two years earlier. Is this legal?
Paul and Rowena Williams were directors until April 1 2018, when they stepped down, maybe in the hope of escaping the impending employment tribunal. The sole director now is the ever-obliging, convicted fraudster, Keith Partridge, who took over on the same day as Paul and Rowena Williams ceased to be directors.
Whatever the motives for recently putting Partridge in charge, the fact remains that when the offences dealt with by the employment tribunal were committed in 2017 the only directors of Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd/Polvellan Manor Ltd were Paul and Rowena Williams.
But you still have to wonder why Partridge agreed to let his name be used as skipper of the Titanic when the iceberg was already in sight.
It should go without saying that the former Seiont Manor kitchen porter is not optimistic about getting his money. Which is a sad reflection on the Englandandwales legal system, because I believe the law should provide some guarantee of payment.
UPDATE 08.10.2018: Someone has just pointed out an inconsistency in the Employment Tribunal document. At the head of the document, under 'Judgment', it refers to 'Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd', (now Polvellan Manor Ltd) but scroll down, to 'Notice', and the company mentioned is 'Rural Retreats & Leisure Uk (sic) Ltd'.
I shouldn't think that this invalidates the decision. After all they're both Williams companies, but it does remind us of the danger of dealing with companies with very similar names. And of course, it's why shysters like Williams have companies with confusingly similar names.
The Daily Post has now caught up with the story.
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
The current situation can be summed up as follows:
Paul and Rowena Williams are holed up at Plas Glynllifon, a massive pile they have estimated will cost £20m to refurbish.
Apart from Plas Glynllifon they have no (known) assets other than assorted 'ransom strips', abandoned Fronoleu, and the Seiont Manor Hotel, with the latter being run into the ground by drug-dependent Rikki Reynolds (who is indulged because he knows where the bodies are buried).
Debts are piling up, and money is running short, which is why they were unable to complete the purchase of Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch.
On top of all their other problems they now have the mounting debt of the Industrial Tribunal.
The Police are investigating.
And now I hear that HMRC is also taking an interest.
In last week's post, Plaid Cymru's enemy within, in speaking of Anne Greagsby, I wrote, "I can't say I know Anne Greagsby, I've met her just once . . . she was in good company, which I'm old-fashioned enough to believe is a useful indicator of a person's character."
That holds true for everyone, and when we look at Paul and Rowena Williams, who do we find them associating with? Well, there's Rikki Reynolds, and I have been told stories about this bastard that I would love to tell, but in doing so I might compromise a source. I just wish I was free to tell you about the gardener.
Paul and Rowena Williams' accountant is convicted fraudster John Duggan. Long-time associate and business partner, the man who supposedly bought now liquidated Leisure & Development Ltd, and who has also agreed to be sole director of Polvellan Manor Ltd is Keith Partridge, another convicted fraudster.
Down in Cornwall, running the Waves Bar for them, we found Stuart Paul Cooper – yet another fraudster! And who is the mysterious Michael Jones, sole director of Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd? I'm prepared to bet that he has an interesting biography. Then we have Paul Williams' sister, Debra Oswald, and his parents with their iffy hotel business in India.
Finally, there is Dudley James Cross, whose Linkedin profile says he works for property company Lambert Smith Hampton, but he's been an associate of Paul Williams since at least 2008, he was even showing people around Plas Glynllifon on the Open Days in June, and he has served as a director of the company now in liquidation, Leisure & Development Ltd. It is widely believed that he had a hand in the absurd valuations of the properties Paul and Rowena Williams 'sold' to themselves in 2015.
These are not business people who've taken 'short cuts' or made the odd mistake; these are not honest folk who fell in with rogues – these are crooks, pure and simple. They should be behind bars.
Weep for Wales 9
On 19/09/2018 27/09/2018 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Englandandwales, Local Government, Media, Planning, Public Funding, Tourism, Welsh Government, Welsh Independence34 Comments
It's been a while since I wrote the previous instalment in this saga, August 6th to be precise, and even though I have no earth-shattering revelations for you, it's clear that we are moving towards a conclusion.
But for newcomers – or even even regulars who may have forgotten how we got to where we are – here are links to the previous instalments: Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5, Weep for Wales 6, Weep for Wales 7, Weep for Wales 8.
In addition to this latest post being an update on the saga, I shall also use it to give some thought to what this incredible story tells us about the state of modern Wales. Basically, how the hell did Paul and Rowena Williams and their associates get away with so much for so long?
Because irrespective of what now happens to those you've been reading about over the past few months there are others who have questions to answer, and I might as well do the asking, because nobody else will.
WHY DID THEY GET A FREE RIDE?
The Daily Post's involvement in this saga is quite extraordinary in its willingness to publish any old nonsense. I have drawn up a list of the DP's articles on Plas Glynllifon and the other Gwynedd properties since Paul and Rowena Williams first became involved.
Starting with this article on 10 June 2016 telling us that the mystery owner of Plas Glynllifon – speaking through property company Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) – said that the renovation would take three years, and would cost an estimated £5m.
The next article was just a few days later on 14 June 2016, and this time we were told that the old pile was to be transformed into a luxury hotel and spa with the project managed by LSH.
Just a day later, 15 June 2016, there was another report, but it was little different to the one the previous day.
The new year brought this piece on 22 February 2017 in which the Daily Post was graciously granted access, to be told by Rowena Williams, "We hope that the project will hold dear to the Prince of Wales, who enjoyed his investiture ball here and also takes a very keen interest in our heritage and historic properties such as Glynllifon. We hope that he will be an asset to the project."
We were not informed if Carlo had been asked to cough up a few quid towards the "£5.5 to £6.5" needed for the restoration. Maybe it wasn't needed, for a finance package had been agreed with "Together in Manchester". And Team Williams was also "in talks with the Welsh Government about grant support".
On 23 May 2017 we learnt that the owners of Plas Glynllifon had enlisted the help of Lord Newborough (whose family pile Plas Glynllifon had once been), and also helping Paul Williams were "Bangor University, the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (at Bangor Uni), Gwynedd Archives, and other bodies". The more the merrier!
On 28 May 2017 the Daily Post invited us to take a look inside Plas Glynllifon. The accompanying film has Rowena Williams telling us that " . . . outside, in the exterior, we've got lots of, um, plans going ahead with, um, with flower and fauna . . . ", to a backdrop of nineteenth century kitsch meets suburban Wolverhampton.
There was now a gap until 26 November 2017, and an article headlined, "Take a look at stunning £16m transformation of historic mansion into five star hotel", which was a bit naughty, because Paul and Rowena Williams have not spent anything approaching £16m at Glynllifon. There was no explanation for how the cost of renovating Plas Glynllifon had increased from £5.5m-£6.5m in May to £16m in November. Brexit, I suppose.
There was yet another video, this one without the Gruesome Twosome but with weird musical accompaniment. Then there were photos, of, er, scaffolding; while inside the building, we saw a bath, an organ, statues and a four-poster bed. This article, like previous ones, drew a number of positive comments, including one from 'MarkoMarko', who I suspect may not be local, and may even have been an employee of the Williams gang.
The final plug report of the year was on 4 December 2017. Now the focus switched to the Seiont Manor Hotel , lined up for a £5m expansion. This would involve, " . . . extending the restaurant with the provision of a new lake view terrace, expansion of the existing leisure facilities to improve the changing and spa facilities and add treatment rooms, a purpose built lake side function suite with bedrooms above and luxury lodges in the grounds".
The first article in the new year appeared on 7 February 2018 and the focus switched again, this time to a snowy Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch, which we were told Paul and Rowena Williams were buying. The obligatory video introduced ageing juvenile lead Rikki Reynolds, general manager of the Seiont Manor Hotel.
This new project included, "a 100 bedroom hotel with a pool, spa, restaurants and bars". There was to be a seafood restaurant, and holiday cottages, with the Daily Post adding, "They (Paul and Rowena Williams) said the residential parts of the project will help with funding for other parts of this 240 job scheme and the ongoing restoration at Glynllifon and expansion of Seiont Manor in Llanrug, which they also own."
Two hundred and forty jobs! This is bullshit piled so high that it must have blocked out the sun. But by this stage if Paul Williams had said he was Jesus Christ come to give us all another chance the Daily Post would have reported it without question . . . and of course with a video.
Just three days later, on 10 February 2018, the Daily Post returned to Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch, for which, we were told, "project proposals have come and gone"; but things were to be different this time with Paul and Rowena Williams and the boy wonder. Maybe, but the video was the same one we'd seen three days earlier. We also heard of a new player in "Developer Plas Glynllifon Group", of which no one has seen hide nor hair since.
On 27 April 2018 a fire was reported at Plas Tŷ Coch. 'Disgraceful' behaviour according to Paul Williams (a man who knows a thing or two about disgraceful behaviour). The Daily Post took the opportunity to remind us that Plas Tŷ Coch would be restored (sic) into luxury period apartments with low density housing in the grounds of the mansion and the restoration of walled and formal gardens.
I'm losing track now of how many apartments, houses, lodges, are involved with the Williams' properties. Add them to the hotels, restaurants, pools, spas, bars and God knows what else and it's getting bloody crowded!
Did it never occur to anyone that this bloke might be a sinister kind of Walter Mitty?
On to 11 May 2018 when we were told that Paul and Rowena Williams intended to part-fund their ambitions in the north through the sale of those properties they owned in Powys and over the border. This was the £10m 'sale' to convicted fraudster Keith Partridge, which was about as convincing as a 'Welsh Labour' Party manifesto.
The cost of renovating Plas Glynllifon was now £20m, up from £5.5m to £6.5m a year earlier. Inflation on this scale is no problem if you're fluent in bollocks, pluck figures out of thin air, and are trying to wangle grants . . .
We only had to wait one day, to 12 May 2018, for the next intriguing episode headed, "Take a look inside stunning Plas Glynllifon as restoration continues". And we were treated to yet another video and more photos of scaffolding and further examples of Victorian interiors at their worst.
Giving us an effect that is quite overwrought and claustrophobic. I can only assume that this bedroom would be the Edgar Allan Poe Suite. Who's that in the mirror!
Courtesy of Daily Post, click to enlarge (if you dare!)
The Daily Post went for its hat-trick with three consecutive days' coverage on 13 May 2018, with the emphasis now shifting to the parkland and pleasure gardens around Plas Glynllifon. For the headline told us "Mansion owners in 'advanced talks' to take ownership of Parc Glynllifon country park".
If this carried on it was only a matter of time before Paul Williams approached Cyngor Gwynedd with an offer they couldn't refuse to buy the whole bloody county.
The long-awaited news of open days at Plas Glynllifon was brought to us on 6 June 2018. There was yet another video, this one confirming that a number of deliveries had been received from the local garden centre, with photos of the happy couple, scaffolding, and the Edgar Allan Poe Suite.
Weep for Wales appeared 8 June 2018.
The cobwebs were blown away when, on 9 June 2018, we were back to the bracing air of Plas Brereton on the Menai Strait, and among fresh proposals for the site was a fishing village! So if we add that to the apartments, houses, lodges and hotels, how much accommodation does that give us? How much extra accommodation does the Caernarfon area need?
We made another slight detour on 16 June 2018 as Paul Williams' house-trained "expert in land and heritage conservation", dragged up specially from Cornwall, tut-tutted about the state of Parc Glynllifon and suggested that it was in such a mess it should be handed over to Paul Williams at a knock-down price.
Of the accompanying photos two were of scaffolding. (They can grow on you!)
Weep for Wales 2 appeared 19 June 2018.
Weep for Wales 4 appeared 3 July 2018.
Maybe my blog was being read at the Daily Post, for the uncritical plugs stopped and the first cloud appeared in the Williams firmament with the report of 11 July 2018 headlined, "Welsh Government considering whether grant funding to mansion developers can be recouped after hotels close", a reference to the closure of the Radnorshire Arms Hotel In Presteigne and the Knighton Hotel in the town of that name.
For all I know there might have been other articles that I've missed, but the 18 I've listed here tell an alarming tale of a gang of shysters given free access to an important source of local news. For they were allowed to say anything they wanted with nary an awkward question, let alone any journalistic digging to find out who they really were.
And it wasn't just the Daily Post that was guilty of unquestioning plugs. There was Business News Wales on 8 March 2017. BBC Wales 27 June 2018. The Caterer 29 June 2018. The Daily Mail 1 July 2018, etc., etc.
But as the local 'paper the Daily Post is more guilty than others of not doing its homework on these crooks. Indeed, the other news outlets may have been attracted to Glynllifon by the endless plugs they saw in the Daily Post. Seeing as they got it so wrong with Paul and Rowena Williams we have to ask if the Daily Post will identify the next shysters arriving on its patch, or will it be more free and uncritical publicity.
Because I can predict with certainty that the easy ride Paul and Rowena Williams received from the local media, the council and others, will encourage other crooks to chance their arm in Gwynedd.
Of course, I tried to post comments to the endless 'Aren't they wonderful!' stories about Paul and Rowena Williams; trying to warn people, but I'm blocked from the Daily Post and WalesOnline websites.
The question for newspapers and other media outlets before repeating press releases, or running encomiums, must always be – 'What do we really know about these people?' And if the answer is 'Nothing', or 'Very little', then start digging!
THE FAT LADY IS WAITING IN THE WINGS
In the previous episode I told you that Leisure & Development Ltd was in the hands of receivers and the establishments involved locked, with CCTV installed. Since then I've heard that Paul Williams was still getting access to some of the buildings, for example, to the Knighton Hotel, either from the flat or ground floor showroom he still owns.
The latest information I have says that an offer has been made for the Radnorshire Arms by some local nobs who hope to start refurbishment work early next year. There is also interest in the Knighton Hotel and the properties in England and Cornwall, all of which might be offered for sale very soon.
In Gwynedd, things are also moving to a conclusion. For example, in the extracts you've just read from the Daily Post you'll see that Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch crop up quite regularly, with ludicrous plans for fishing villages and God knows what else – but Paul and Rowena Williams never owned these properties!
They seem to have put down a deposit but never got around to paying off the balance. The deadline to complete the sale passed on Tuesday 18 September, and so, on the reasonable assumption that the balance was not paid, Paul and Rowena Williams are now left with Plas Glynllifon and the Seiont Manor Hotel, the latter run for them by drug-dependent Rikki Reynolds.
The Daily Post couldn't forget old habits and tried to put a positive spin on the story, as if the deal would be finalised . . . as if non-completion was a mere oversight . . . nothing to do with the money having dried up . . . the other properties being in the hands of liquidators . . . everything falling apart . . .
STOP PRESS: But, finally, on Wednesday 19 September the Daily Post was forced to submit to reality and admit that the deal had fallen through.
I now visualise Paul Williams holed up in Plas Glynllifon, something like Jean Gabin in Le Jour se Lève, chain-smoking Gauloises and ready to shoot it out with the flics receivers. (God! I must lay off the Malbec!)
But enough of 1930s French movies and the Daily Post, what about other individuals and agencies we've encountered in this saga, how do their roles stand up to scrutiny?
UPDATE 21.09.2018: Today the Daily Post reported that Dyfed Powys Police had met with Powys County Council trading standards officers last week to discuss the now closed Powys hotels owned by Paul and Rowena Williams.
Paul Williams was quoted as saying, "We are unaware of any meeting allegedly held between the local authority and the police in Powys. However, we are pleased to hear that they are looking into matters as this will without doubt vindicate Rowena and I."
The Daily Post's reporting was again abysmal. Just two days ago, Owen Hughes, the DP's Business Correspondent – who has written all the puffs for Paul and Rowena Williams – told us that the deal to buy Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch had fallen through, but today he wants us to believe that they've "agreed the purchase" of these properties.
Can't he remember what he's written . . . or did somebody else write it?
Not only that, but he sticks to the Williams story about these Powys properties having been sold to convicted fraudster Keith Partridge, when everyone else knows this was just a ploy allowing them to slip away and lay the blame on somebody else.
UPDATE 22.09.2018: Daily Post reports statement from Paul Williams.
SUPPORTING CAST
Plas Glynllifon is a Grade 1 listed building. The Radnorshire Arms in Presteigne and the Knighton Hotel are both Grade II listed buildings. (Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch are also listed.) Which means that they come under the watchful eye of Cadw, or English Heritage (West) as it is more honestly known.
Cadw/EH(W) awards grants to those owning listed properties, and so, given Paul and Rowena Williams' talent for sniffing out easy money, it would be reasonable to assume that they applied to Cadw/EH(W) for funding. And this is what I'm told happened. I'm further told that grant funding was given.
More specifically, large amounts were given to the Powys properties, enough for Williams to claim that grants had paid for the Knighton Hotel. While in Gwynedd, it's reported that there was a dispute between Paul and Rowena Williams and Cadw/EH(W) over a grant given to Plas Glynllifon which appeared to have been diverted to the Seiont Manor Hotel.
In the hope of getting the facts I submitted a FoI request to Cadw/EH(W), but if the reply I received is to be believed then the Williams gang haven't received a penny. Read it for yourself.
Which means that either my informants are mistaken, or else – and I hate to even consider this possibility! – Cadw/EH(W) is telling old Jac porkies!
With Paul and Rowena Williams' empire now reduced to Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor it's worth asking what roles have been played by the local council and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai which runs the adjoining Glynllifon Agricultural College.
Cyngor Gwynedd has remained tight-lipped, saying only that Plas Glynllifon is privately owned and has nothing to do with the council. Which I suppose is fair enough up to a point, but the council must have concerns when such a prominent local building is constantly changing hands between dreamers and crooks.
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai has said even less, which for me is more worrying, Because if we go back to 13 May the Daily Post was headlining a story "Mansion owners in 'advanced talks' to take ownership of Parc Glynllifon country park". And the report went on, " . . . discussions are underway with Gwynedd council and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai over taking control of parts of the vast estate grounds surrounding the mansion".
Courtesy of Daily Post, click to enlarge
So how far did these talks progress? Were they concluded with an agreement to hand over land to Paul and Rowena Williams? In light of recent developments, how difficult would it be for Cyngor Gwynedd and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to issue a statement assuring us that no deal was done? I suggest they owe it to us.
A name that has cropped up throughout this case is that of property company Lambert Smith Hampton, and in particular Dudley James Cross, who often seemed to act as a personal advisor to Paul and Rowena Williams, or perhaps even a partner, for at one time he was a director of Leisure & Development Ltd, the company that was 'sold' on 1 February to Keith Partridge, but then went tits up.
click to large
You'll notice that on his Linkedin profile Cross is Regional Head of LSH based in Northampton, but when he was director of Leisure & Development Ltd he was apparently resident in Wales, with his address given as Plas Glynllifon.
So what sort of a company is Lambert Smith Hampton that it gets involved with crooks like Williams and Partridge? Where is Cross now? Is his role in all this being investigated?
A LAND READY FOR THE TAKING
The deeper I dig and the more I learn about how modern Wales is run the more I realise how easy it is for crooks like Paul Williams to come waltzing in demanding this that and t'other. And demand that we pay for it!
Just recently I wrote about the new village of very expensive properties being built not far from Plas Glynllifon, apparently with the blessing and full co-operation of Cyngor Gwynedd.
Just a few miles away, at Nebo, a gang set up in a farm, and a benefit claimant threw up a seven-bedroom mansion! The police eventually raided the place. I understand this is another case from which Gwynedd's planning department does not emerge with any credit.
All this is happening in Gwynedd, which many outside the area think of as some impregnable fortress of Welshness. The truth is its walls have been breached, and from the inside.
And yet, perversely, when I see how easy it is for people who are obviously greedy and corrupt, but none too bright, to get away with all this, then in a curious way it gives me hope.
For I see that the political machinery is old and broken, with few taking any interest in its running; the social structures that once seemed so permanent are in a state of flux; people are discontented and looking for something new; while the traditional media is discredited and dying before our eyes.
We are at a stage in the history of Wales where enough determined people, with the right message, can generate enough enthusiasm and public support to direct the political and social agenda.
On 23/07/2018 08/04/2021 By JacIn Cardiff Bay, Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Plaid Cymru, Police, Tourism, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour, Welsh Media43 Comments
The anguished cry goes up from Cemaes to Chepstow, from Talacre to Tenby – 'Will this ever end!'
The short answer is, I hope it will; but for me to get back to reporting on local flower shows, and telling you what Sharon's mother wore at the wedding before she got legless and started stripping, there will need to be action from the police and various levels of government.
And while there are encouraging signs, and a growing mountain of evidence, the Williams-Partridge gang remains at liberty.
Even so, you're assuming that there must have been some developments otherwise I wouldn't be writing this latest instalment, and indeed there have. Not least a tearful – if unwilling – return to the Radnorshire Arms Hotel for Paul and Rowena Williams.
For anyone joining us for the first time I strongly suggest that you get up to speed with: Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5, Weep for Wales 6.
WHAT A NUTTER!
And lo, it came to pass that on Friday July 20th Paul and Rowena Williams did return to the Radnorshire Arms Hotel in Presteigne whereto they had been summoned by Powys County Council, and the 'Welsh' Government; the former checking on what insults had been inflicted on this listed building and the latter ensuring that the money showered on the Gruesome Twosome for the 'Rad' and the Knighton Hotel had been properly spent.
Radnorshire Arms Hotel, click to enlarge
As yet, we don't know what was said at the meeting (my Russian office is working on it), but things certainly got a bit heated when Paul Williams emerged. There were a few locals waiting for him. He approached one, and demanded, "Who are you, I've never seen you in here, have you ever drunk or eaten here, its people like you that forced me to close it down".
He was clearly not in a good mood. He got particularly belligerent with this one particular local, and ended up belly-bumping him before head-butting him!
The gallery below shows a few scenes from last Friday's tête-à-tête. Left to right: Paul and Rowena Williams, Paul Williams with the guy he nutted, two suits who arrived at the same time. Assure me they're not working for the Williams-Partridge gang and I'll remove them.
From Paul Williams' demeanour it would be reasonable to assume that the meeting with Powys County Council and the 'Welsh' Government did not go well, for him. Good.
Elsewhere, the Mid Wales Journal ran another piece, but the story has now been relegated to page 2. It also carried a reader's letter pointing out the absurdity of Partridge in last week's edition attributing the closure of the hotels to the hostility that had built up after their closure. The same arse-backwards logic employed by Paul Williams on Friday.
THE SCAM ADMITTED AND PROBLEMS PILING
Ignoring the distraction of the confrontation Paul Williams' little outburst is interesting, and revealing, on a number of counts.
First, the man being addressed (and then nutted) was a regular drinker and diner at the Radnorshire Arms, but Paul Williams wouldn't have known that because he was hardly ever there. I suppose when you've got a property empire to oversee, hotels to buy (often from yourself at ludicrous prices), and money to launder, you haven't got much time to shoot the breeze with locals.
Second, Williams admits that he closed these establishments, so the 'sale' to Keith Partridge was a sham, as I always suspected. But maybe it's worse than that because the more I think about it the more convinced I am that there was no intention to ever reopen the Radnorshire Arms or the Knighton Hotel.
The 'sale' to Partridge was a ploy to distract attention from Paul and Rowena Williams. And even without Paul Williams' outburst last Friday, the evidence has always been there, staring us in the face.
Remember the letter staff received from Keith Partridge? It said: "Your employer is still the company, RRL UK Ltd" (Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd). Confirmed by Rowena Williams' letter of 28 March. (Read both here.)
Yet on 1 April the gang (acting through or in the name of Michael Jones) tried to strike off Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd. So those letters to the staff should have read: 'We're telling you you're employed by RRL UK Ltd – but we're liquidating the company. Ha, ha!'
As I've mentioned before, the strike-off was halted by an objection from a public-spirited individual. Yet the Companies House website makes clear that the gang still wants to strike off this company.
Some might argue that liquidating RRL UK Ltd could be the best option. The Radnorshire, the Knighton and the other properties would then be auctioned off and might be bought by people who want them to be successful.
The flaw in this reasoning is that they might be bought at auction by another Paul Williams. For he himself has bought properties this way; one was the Fronoleu, near Dolgellau, which we looked at in the previous instalment, work started we were told in 2015, and yet it remains an empty shell.
Further evidence that Partridge is simply fronting for Paul and Rowena Williams, is that the letter from heartbroken-to-be-leaving Rowena and 'new owner' Partridge were almost certainly written by the same person. The clue is in the bizarre date format "01st February" appearing in both letters.
And of course, with the portfolio including the Radnorshire and the Knighton not being sold to Partridge it means that Team Williams did not receive the £10m Partridge was said to have paid them for those properties.
Yet Paul and Rowena Williams are talking of spending £20m on Plas Glynllifon and £5m or more on Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch, so where's the money coming from?
The truth is they have no intention of completing the restoration of Plas Glynllifon. They'll spend a little money on cosmetic effects, bring in some antiques and other fixtures, but as with so many of their ventures, from the Scottish border to Cornwall, the prize may be the land adjoining Plas Glynllifon.
Which is why I was so concerned to read, "Mansion owners in 'advanced talks' to take ownership of Parc Glynllifon country park".
So I call on Cyngor Gwynedd and Grwp Llandrillo-Menai to tell us exactly what is being discussed, or has been agreed, with regard to handing over land to Paul and Rowena Williams. I can understand the silence, it's often difficult to talk with egg on your face, but the people of Gwynedd, Powys, and the rest of Wales are entitled to know the truth.
Aerial view of the estate with Plas Glynllifon in the centre, click to enlarge.
The other element of the scam will be raising money against the asset of Plas Glynllifon. With a building that size, and the land around it, they could hope to raise many millions of pounds in mortgages and loans. And when they took it over in 2016 – fresh from their triumphs in Powys – they were also expecting a few million pounds from the 'Welsh' Government and/or Cyngor Gwynedd.
PAUL WILLIAMS, SOME MORE FACTS
Here are some random and often unrelated facts from a number of sources that nevertheless help to fill out the profile of Paul Williams.
In the previous instalment I quoted Paul Williams' Linkedin profile (here in pdf) and his claim to have worked for eleven years for the Royal Mail, handling their property portfolio. Now I'm told this is yet more bullshit. Which raises the question, 'What was Paul Williams doing before he emerged circa 2001 at Mortimers Cross Inn?'
I mentioned the Goa connection in Weep for Wales 5, now I hear that Paul Williams' father has a hotel there, but comes home three or four times a year. I'm also told that if you meet the father you'll understand why the son is what he is.
The Badminton Club in Ebbw Vale was bought with cash. The attraction being the one-arm bandits and other gambling allowed at a private club. My source says that Paul and Rowena would travel down to Ebbw Vale regularly to empty the machines. (The income from which could be exaggerated?)
The Williams' faithful lapdog Rikki Reynolds, now 'running' the Seiont Manor Hotel near Caernarfon, first worked for Paul and Rowena Williams at Mortimers Cross Inn. Later, either at the Knighton Hotel or the Radnorshire Arms, he was sacked for stealing some of the money that was lying around everywhere. Reinstated he is now part of the gang. Rikki is none too bright, a heavy drinker, a drug user, but loyal.
The Mortimers Cross Inn is also where they made the acquaintance of John Duggan the thieving accountant they have used to hide their crimes for a number of years. Can't you just imagine the conversations Paul and John might have had of a winter evening around a roaring log fire, with Rikki swaying gently behind the bar!
The 'Welsh' Government has stated in a reply to Kirsty Williams AM that the Knighton Hotel received grants totalling £254,200 and Radnorshire Arms £225,000, but a source insists these figures are wildly inaccurate. The source is convinced that the Knighton alone received over one million pounds, and that Paul Williams used to boast that grants had paid for the place. Did the 'Welsh' Government focus on a single funding stream in order to mislead us?
For let's not forget that even though Kirsty Williams is the local Lib Dem AM she also props up the minority Labour regime down Cardiff Bay. So she might not want to embarrass her coalition partners. Also worth remembering is that the reply she received came from Dafydd Elis Thomas, former Plaid Cymru AM, who is also helping keep Carwyn Jones and his gang afloat.
Fronoleu near Dolgellau was bought at auction in 2015 and paid for in cash. Over three hundred thousand pounds. A loan was then taken out against the property in 2018 with Together Commercial Finance Ltd. In the previous instalment I showed you plans that had been drawn up by an architect suggesting that work had started on Fronoleu in 2015. It was a lie, of course. Everything is a lie with Paul Williams. But worse, I'm told that this architect signs off projects funded by the 'Welsh' Government, saying that they have been satisfactorily completed. The architect concerned had worked for Paul Williams before Fronoleu, and possibly since.
But they had no intention of re-opening Fronoleu. It was just a way of laundering £300,000+. (And because it's money laundering they'll willingly pay over the odds.) This is how to get rid of dirty money and make more money on what you've bought. Money laundering also explains buying property from themselves at greatly inflated prices.
There was a delivery of new televisions to the Knighton Hotel one day, and even though hawk-eyed Paul Williams was on the premises – they were all stolen!
Paul Williams dismissed one member of his staff at 11pm on Christmas Eve in a telephone call from an airport where he was about to jet off for three weeks in Egypt!
One of his staff found a payroll file on a computer used by Paul Williams. Instead of names and numbers staff were identified by insulting descriptions of their physical appearance. I find this really weird, and disturbing.
PAUL WILLIAMS, THE MAN
Anecdotes and hard evidence continues to flow in from those who've had the misfortune to be involved with or work for Paul and Rowena Williams. (I used just a fraction of it in the previous section.) All of it helping to build up a character profile for Paul Williams.
To begin with, I'm convinced he's a pathological liar for whom lies come easier than the truth. You just cannot believe a word he says. Often, he might not even realise that he's telling lies.
When dealing with authority his strategy is to wear down the enemy by not replying to letters, e-mails and phone messages. Worryingly, this often results in the problem going away. Here's a good example from Cornwall of how Paul Williams operates.
But if he is pinned down then he will agree to a meeting – but not turn up. Or agree to make a payment and not do so until he's threatened with bailiffs or prosecution. With tradesmen and suppliers to whom he owes money he either ignores them or he threatens them with violence.
A number of people who've worked for Paul Williams tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, and attributed his lack of empathy to autism, before realising he's just a complete cunt.
He likes to go to the limit, he likes to see how much he can get away with. It's brinkmanship. He's a gambler, a risk-taker. He might even get a rush from it.
He certainly enjoys cutting corners, cheating, putting one over on people, whether it's his employees, the UK government, the 'Welsh' Government, local authorities, banks, tradesmen, suppliers, even taxi drivers delivering him home drunk.
I introduce the taxi driver because of a story I've been told about Paul, Rowena and Rikki Reynolds. A while ago a taxi delivered them to Seiont Manor and the taxi driver had to struggle to get his money because Paul Williams haggled over a £15 taxi fare!
Some might view Paul Williams as a likeable rogue for taking on public officials, banks and others, but when you learn of the little people he has hurt, humiliated and robbed, you realise he's just a piece of shit.
A number of people over the years have had unhappy experiences with Paul and Rowena Williams. I'm already receiving information from many sources, but I suspect there are others who are no longer in Wales who could also provide information.
So I'd like to hear from Dan Pricop, Phil Higgerson, Mark McNicol and Paul Field. Get in touch with me at editor@jacothenorth.net. But the offer is open to anybody and everybody who will help to get this man and his associates their just desserts.
The montage below shows, in the big picture, Paul Williams' sister Debra Yvonne Oswald with her husband Stuart. Top right is Keith Partridge. Bottom right Sukhbinder Singh Heer, who is the other director of Leisure & Development Ltd along with Partridge and Williams. Quite what he brings to the party is yet to be established.
You'll note that Part(d)ridge and Heer became directors of Leisure & Development Ltd on 1 February 2018, which is the date Partridge is supposed to have taken over the Radnorshire Arms Hotel, the Knighton Hotel and other properties. But in both letters we've seen, staff are told they still work for Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd, of which Partridge and Heer are not directors.
Has somebody slipped up, got confused with similarly named companies?
UPDATE 24.07.2018: There seems to have been a belated and rather clumsy attempt to resolve the anomaly of Paul Williams remaining a director of Leisure & Development Ltd following the alleged takeover by Partridge. Documents dated last Saturday (21.07.2018) but received at Companies House today (24.07.2018) tell us that Paul Williams has resigned as director. Also, that 10,000 shares in the company have been transferred from Plas Glynllifon Ltd to Partridge.
Which is just paperwork, designed to deceive. For I guarantee that no properties have been transferred from Paul and Rowena Williams to Partridge.
As I say, this is primarily a money laundering operation. The only question is whether Paul Williams is laundering money for others or for himself and his extended family. Maybe it's a bit of both. We can add mortgage fraud and other crimes to the mix.
Properties are bought at auction, paid for with cash, or people in difficulty with their mortgage are 'helped' . . . before being elbowed out. Those properties, and nearby land, are then used to raise loans, sold to Williams companies at absurdly inflated prices, which then means they can take out more loans.
So dirty money is successfully laundered and more money is raised through loans against properties they have no real interest in, but it also means a growing mountain of debt, unless of course Together Commercial Finance Ltd is part of this scam.
Whatever the answer, if I was a business partner of Williams I'd be pissed off with him for attracting a lot of unnecessary attention. All he had to do was keep the Radnorshire Arms and the Knighton Hotel open and I would never have heard of Paul Steven Williams.
But then, I've described the sort of 'fuck-'em-all' man he is, and because he thinks he's smarter than everybody else, he's become over-confident, and when you're over-confident you make mistakes.
In Swansea, we call this hubris.
On 19/07/2018 21/07/2018 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation, Corruption, Welsh Assembly, Welsh Government, Welsh Labour, Welsh Media84 Comments
Well I promised I'd be back, and when you've got a gift that keeps on giving . . .
As the title suggests, this is the sixth episode in a saga that I'm more convinced than ever will end in tears for the central characters. And they will be the authors of their own downfall.
If you've stumbled on this site looking for Viagra, or you wanted to lay a bet on Cardiff City winning the Premier League (well, laff!!), why not stay tuned, but first catch up with previous instalments, Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3, Weep for Wales 4, Weep for Wales 5.
LET'S GET UP TO DATE . . .
In what I assume was an attempt at 'balance' the Mid Wales Journal followed up its report of 6 July on hotels being abandoned by Paul and Rowena Williams and/or Keith Partridge with the report below a week later.
In this we read Keith Partridge blame the neglect of the Radnorshire Arms Hotel and the Knighton Hotel on "foul and abusive notices" being found around these properties. He was also outraged by social media posts and web sites. (Some people, eh!)
These assaults on Partridge's honesty, and his motives, have caused him and his cohorts, to "rethink our strategy", with the outcome of the rethink to be given by the end of August.
What a load of bollocks! He shut the Radnorshire Arms Hotel and the Knighton Hotel telling staff these hotels would be closed for a few months for refurbishment and re-branding. When it was seen that nothing was being done people started asking questions about Partridge, and a can of worms was opened.
The truth has now emerged about him, the accountant Duggan, and Paul and Rowena Williams. But Partridge is using the suspicion and hostility he and the rest of the gang have generated as justification for doing nothing.
My gut feeling is that it was never in the plan to re-open these hotels. But with so much evidence about the gang now in the public domain, and with politicians, media and many others asking questions, their plan has been rumbled, and they're not sure which way to jump.
THE MAN HIMSELF
Companies House tells us that Paul Steven Williams was born 23.02.1969.
His Linkedin profile tells us that before becoming a hotelier and property tycoon he worked for Royal Mail for eleven years as 'National Facilities Manager'. We are told that his, " . . . responsibility covered the management, acquisition and refurbishment of the Royal Mails (sic) £5 billion portfolio of UK properties".
The manner in which the job is described suggests that this is where he learnt about property, how to acquire, exploit and dispose of property, plus all manner of short-cuts and dodges. Doing this job he must have made many useful contacts in the property world.
If you go up towards the top of the Linkedin page you'll see 'Paul Williams' Posts', ten in all. I was particularly taken by one dated October 2, 2015 and introduced as "Our Next Hotel Project …………..is…." and it turns out to be the Fronoleu Country Hotel near Dolgellau. In case it disappears from the internet, you can read it here.
FRONOLEU
Upon reading that I thought to myself,'Well, if this project was already under way in early October 2015 then it must surely be finished by now. So I shall hire me a charabanc and take a party of merry-makers up there!'
But alas, when we got there, this is what we found! It was terrible! The shrieks of the women, the crying of the children, the men cursing – 'There was football on the telly, you bastard!'
What went wrong? We were told this project was under way in 2015, Paul Williams even showed us the plans on his Linkedin post. Surely he wasn't lying?
And yet, I can't find any record of a planning application ever being submitted for this property, and I searched both the Gwynedd council and the National Park websites. To judge by what I saw when I visited, the place was cleaned out some time ago, and that's all that's been done. It was bought, gutted, and left to rot.
The only sign of recent human intervention was the cut grass to the left of the hotel, probably cut by whoever lives in the house just out of picture in the same direction. Particularly poignant, I thought, was the state of the three flags, resembling standards on some long forgotten field of combat.
But how did Paul and Rowena Williams come into possession of Fronoleu?
Given the dates we already have in 2015 I suspect it was bought at this auction. The information given is interesting, and amusing. It tells potential buyers, "The more extensive amenities of Caernarfon and Bangor are accessible to the north respectively" without saying that Caernarfon is over 40 miles away, Bangor further, and that Aberystwyth and Newtown are both nearer.
Obviously penned by someone who knows sod all about the area. Another give-away was calling Tabor a village, which is like describing Dolgellau as a metropolis. And while the former county town of Merioneth is indeed 1½ miles away – if you've got black, shiny feathers – it can only be reached from Fronoleu by risking the single-track unlisted road that runs to and from this isolated property.
(Our charabanc scared the shit out of a cyclist who reacted in the manner I suspect greets alien landings. I hope he wasn't injured diving through that hedge.)
The 'Joint Auctioneer' is the Manchester office of Christie & Co. (Just can't get away from Manchester, can we?) The sale was handled by Martin Davis, who has since moved on to Bilfinger GVA.
I'm sure Fronoleu serves some purpose lying empty and losing money but don't be surprised if it catches afire or goes to auction again soon.
UPDATE: I hear from a council source that towards the end of last year council tax debts on Fronoleu had reached such a level that Cyngor Gwynedd threatened to go into Seiont Manor and seize 'goods to the value'. This was averted only when £10,000 was paid over the phone by card.
GOOD WITH FIGURES
I've just mentioned John Duggan, who serves as the gang's accountant, and works out of a shed in the village of Leintwardine in north Herefordshire.
Leisure and Development Ltd, the company we are asked to believe was sold for £10m to another crook, Keith Partridge, in February, was using Duggan's shed as the company's registered office address, but earlier this month the address was changed to the Knighton Hotel.
Can't you just imagine Keith Partridge sitting down one morning to his kedgeree, switching on his tablet to read Jac o' the North and exclaiming in a voice resonant of both shock and horror – 'Well, bless my soul, John Duggan is a crook! Who'd have thought it . . . lovely man . . . such impressive offices at Unit 3 . . . We'll have to take our business elsewhere . . . '
How they've been allowed to get away with it I do not know. Let's stick with Leisure & Development Ltd for a minute. This company was formed 19 January 2015; then, in July 2015, no less than 7 charges were registered, these being loans from the National Westminster Bank. Yet the accounts submitted for that period, up to 31 January 2016 – by Debra Oswald, Paul Williams' sister – are for a dormant company!
Clearly Leisure & Development Ltd was not a dormant company. And I guarantee that no responsible accountant or lawyer would have signed off that statement, so Paul Williams' sister had to do it.
Though in fairness, the accounts for 31 January 2017 (or the 'Unaudited Financial Statement') were produced by an accountant – John Duggan, of J D Accountancy, Leintwardine.
An unlikely locale in which to find Paul and Rowena Williams, who specialise in country hotels, which then makes the former Badminton Club an even more unlikely purchase. But buy it they did and may have renamed it the Beaufort Sports and Social Club.
I'm not sure when they bought it, or whether it was through an auction – maybe someone in the area can help?
What I can say is that it was sold in December 2017 for a stated price of just £60,000.
Which then leaves the big questions:
Did Paul and Rowena Williams initially buy the Badminton Club in their own name(s)?
If not, when and from whom did Rural Retreats & Leisure acquire the property?
Did Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd pay a strangely high price for the property?
Was the property then sold at a loss?
GLYNLLIFON
Now we turn to the jewel in the crown, the reason given for allegedly selling the other properties to Keith Partridge.
The latest figure given for the Glynllifon project is £20m. Even if we accept that Paul and Rowena Williams received £10m for their other properties from Partridge (which raises the question of where he got the money), that still leaves a shortfall of £10m.
Fortunately, this money-pit is, according to The Caterer, being funded by the other Gwynedd properties.
We've already seen that Fronoleu isn't making any contribution, and the only establishment that is open for business is the Seiont Manor Hotel. Run by Rikki Reynolds who, from the information I've received, seems either disinterested or out of his depth.
On top of which, Plas Brereton and Plas Tŷ Coch are themselves going to cost millions to renovate. As if that wasn't enough of a financial burden, Paul Williams has told people he wants to 'buy' four more hotels in the area!
Picture courtesy of Daily Post, click to enlarge.
The figures don't add up because Plas Glynllifon was taken on in order to raise more money. When everything eventually goes mammaries heavenwards the gang will drive off in brand-new Range Rovers, every glove compartment and other storage area stuffed with readies.
In the meantime, in the hope of persuading people that renovation is under way, Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor serve as repositories for fixtures and fittings looted from elsewhere.
And who's to say the partnership will even hold? Because I hear of rows between Paul and Rowena Williams, with her often sleeping on an inflatable bed.
Face it, these people are crooks. Before long, as the NatWest Bank, HMRC and the police close in Gwynedd will be back to square one with a massive derelict mansion and a few smaller properties for which no uses can be found and no honest buyers.
UPDATE: Crooks they may be, but I'm sure they don't have people whacked, which is a possibility that went through my mind when I was told about a 'director' who was there at Seiont Manor one day and was gone the next, never to be seen again.
The man I'm talking about is Mark McNicol, who describes himself on his Linkedin profile as 'Operations Director – Rural Retreats & Leisure', a job he's held since April 2016. Which is a bit confusing, for Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd changed its name to Polvellan Manor Ltd in March 2015. (Surely they'd have told him?)
Otherwise, he must mean Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd. This, you'll remember, is the company the gang tried to strike off, so not much future there.
For some reason I can no longer reach his Linkedin profile, but fortunately I grabbed it earlier.
Having mentioned HMRC I suppose I'd better explain why. It's because Team Williams has a long-standing policy of paying in cash. Staff are paid in cash, suppliers are paid in cash, just about any deal that can be done in cash will be done in cash.
Inevitably, this means imaginative accounting – which is where Duggan of Cell Block B comes in – but documents still need to be produced. As I mentioned in the previous post, staff at Seiont Manor are given pay slips saying one thing (with no deductions for PAYE or NI), while the correct amount is paid by cheque.
I have now been sent some documents by former employees. This first one shows no tax paid while working at Seiont Manor. This individual is now paying extra tax to make up for the non-payment that is the responsibility of Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd. (A company whose accounts are done by John Duggan.)
In another case, the salary was understated on the P60. In this example we are asked to believe that this person – earning £30,000 a year – was paid just £2,500 between November and April.
I have other documents all pointing in the same direction. Documents I will be happy to make available to HMRC. Those who've supplied me with the documents are ready to fully explain how this illegality is perpetrated. And I'm sure they have much more to tell.
This gang is always cutting corners, always lying, always cheating somebody. That's because they are liars and crooks. There's a story emerging of the deal Paul Williams struck with a certain drinks company. Of course he's reneged on that deal, and the thug who runs the Waves Bar for him/Partridge in Cornwall has threatened a representative of the company with violence if he dares ask again for what's owed.
For as we learnt in Weep for Wales 5, the Waves Bar in Seaton, Cornwall, is run by Stuart Paul Cooper, another crook done for fraud. But Cooper also has a taste for violence, and regularly threatens to burn down people's homes – with them inside.
That's three convicted fraudsters – that we know of – working for or with Paul and Rowena Williams: Keith Partridge, who's supposed to have bought the properties outside Gwynedd, and has known Paul Williams for years. John Duggan, their accountant, who fleeced an old lady out of £700,000. And 'Burn-'em-alive' Cooper down in Cornwall.
We are judged by the company we keep, and when you keep company like that . . .
NATWEST AND TOGETHER
Finally, one thing that's been puzzling me is why any bank or finance company would lend money to these crooks. I suppose the easy answer would be that they've got collateral in the form of hotels and the fixtures and fittings they contain. But what if the value of those hotels and other property is greatly inflated?
Seeing as NatWest stopped lending to the companies run by Paul and Rowena Williams early in 2016, I guess warning lights flashed and somebody said – 'Enough!'. A theory strengthened by news that NatWest in February 2017 was trying to 'restructure' the loans. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
The document you've just read relates to Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd. It's dated 2 February 2017. On the Companies House website, a day later, the registered office address was changed from Unit 3 in Leintwardine (John Duggan) to Plas Glynllifon. Had NatWest rumbled John Duggan?
Whatever the answer – and as I just mentioned in relation to Mark McNicol – in May this year there was an attempt by the owners to strike off the company, and with it of course the debt to the National Westminster Bank. The procedure was halted by an objection from a public-spirited citizen.
All of which tells me that NatWest is innocent of any shenanigans. It is a victim in this affair. But what of Together Commercial Finance Ltd, the equivalent of a pay day loan company that replaced NatWest? The more I think about the relationship between the gang and Together Commercial Finance Ltd the more I see a partnership. If so, who's taking the hit?
While you ponder this and more you might care to peruse a sheet I've put together that lists the dealings of the Williams-Partridge gang in a timeline determined by the dates of the many charges against their companies interspersed with noteworthy events.
Stay alert out there and don't swap your cow for any magic beans. You listening!
On 08/07/2018 21/07/2018 By JacIn Colonialism, Colonisation of Wales, Corruption, Public Funding, Welsh Government, Welsh Media84 Comments
Well, here we are again. And why are we here again? Because there have been further developments, that's why. Some of them encouraging developments.
In addition, I've been doing a bit more thinking. Standing back, as it were, trying to take in the big picture, because what confronts us is designed to mislead and confuse. With companies forming and constantly changing names, addresses and directors. People taking out mortgages to buy property from themselves. Buy-outs that are probably nothing of the kind. And a web of lies designed to hide what's really happening.
All made easier by the gullibility of politicians and media over a wide area and for a considerable period of time.
Fortunately, the fog is clearing.
If you're new to this saga then to help you better understand what follows, I suggest you read Weep for Wales, Weep for Wales 2, Weep for Wales 3 and Weep for Wales 4.
NEWS FROM THE NORTH
There's little official news but snippets continue to reach my penthouse office at Jac o' the North Towers about how the Williams Gang operates.
The former head chef at the Seiont Manor Hotel was able to provide me with more information on the curious payment arrangements. In his case, pay slips reading £500 every month but much larger amounts – the agreed salary – actually going into his bank account.
He was also able to give me bank details for the source of the money. I won't use that information here but any official agency interested in seeing the information is welcome to contact me. The head chef and his team were constructively dismissed in order to provide work for chefs moving up from the now closed Radnorshire Arms in Presteigne and the Castle Inn in Wigmore. Other staff were also elbowed out.
UPDATE 09.07.2018: After discussing it with the man concerned I have decided to release copies of the relevant documents. They're not perfect pictures but they show payslips for March and May this year, with no PAYE or NI paid, and showing net pay of £500, with the corresponding bank entries for those months showing £1,973.00. Click here.
It seems that the Williams Gang likes to have 'loyalists' on the books . . . or should that be 'off the books'? Whatever, another loyalist is the handyman, a local who's made comments to my Facebook page, some of which he's deleted. To believe Noel Jordan of Penygroes Wales couldn't manage without people like Paul, Rowena, Rikki and the gang because we Welsh are too stupid to do things for ourselves. Speak for yourself, Noel.
Though Noel has stopped defending Team Williams, perhaps because it's finally penetrated even his thick skull that they're crooks. Now he attacks me for my FWA connections and my political stance, previously unknown facts he's gleaned from – Phil Parry at The Eye. Well, laff!!
Something else the former head chef told me was that Rikki Reynolds, running Seiont Manor for Paul and Rowena Williams, doesn't seem much concerned if the business makes money or not. Which I suggest confirms my theory – what's important is the buildings and the money that can be raised on them or channelled through them, the businesses in those buildings are dispensable, as are the people working in them.
This explains why businesses in buildings owned by Paul and Rowena Williams just limp along or close.
So unconcerned is Rikki Reynolds about the state of the Seiont Manor Hotel that I'm told old furniture, televisions, fryers, and other junk litters the grounds, and the interior's not a lot better.
Seiont Manor Hotel, click to enlarge
And if anything goes wrong you'd better try to fix it yourself because no local tradesman will answer the call until he gets pad for his previous visits. (Thank God for trusty, forelock-tugging Noel!) Bailiffs and others looking for money are regular visitors to Seiont Manor. Though come to that, they're regular visitors to every Williams' property.
UPDATE 09.07.2018: Here's an example of an unpaid bill at Seiont Manor. One of thousands.
Before leaving the north let's make a quick visit to Plas Glynllifon.
Someone sent me the picture below, which I'm afraid is not perfect, but still . . . it shows the small lake in the grounds of Plas Glynllifon with a sign reading 'Beware of Sharks' above a picture of Paul and Rowena Williams. I'm told that the hand behind the sign, reaching up, represents a creditor.
ANOTHER TRIP TO CORNWALL
On our previous visits to Cernyw we have concentrated on Polvellan House or Manor in West Looe, now we're going to the community of Seaton, a couple of miles along the coast towards Plymouth.
Like a bundle of other properties this is owned by Leisure & Development Ltd, the company we're told was sold on 1 February this year to Keith Harvey Partridge, though Paul Williams remains a director.
The property owned in Seaton is listed on this Land Registry title document as The Pavilion, though it's now known as the Waves Bar. Confusingly, it is also known as The Courtyard according to this Charge from 2016 referring to the purchase by Leisure & Development. It's definitely the same place because it has the same LR title number. So why three names?
Whatever it's called Leisure & Development paid almost two million pounds for it on 1 February 2016, which sounds rather high. But if it follows the pattern we found elsewhere then Paul and/or Rowena Williams already owned the place and sold it to themselves at an inflated price in order to get the mortgage money.
Another mortgage or loan was taken out 10 May this year with Together Commercial Finance Ltd of Cheadle, after the alleged sale to Partridge. Which might be taken as evidence of the sale.
Despite having sold the Courtyard/Pavilion/Waves Bar Rowena Williams still has a soft spot for the place, to judge by her Facebook page. Though little else is being posted nowadays.
But the reason we're in Seaton is because someone assures me that the manager of the Waves Bar, Stuart Cooper, is this Stuart Paul Cooper.
If Cooper the Waves Bar manager is indeed the same man referred to in the article, then that gives us three convicted fraudsters doing business with Paul and Rowena Williams. There's Keith Partridge, then there's John Duggan, their accountant, who featured in the previous post, and now Stuart Cooper.
This is no coincidence.
Finally, for those taken in by the Open Days at Glynllifon last month, someone in Cornwall tells me that the same stunt was pulled down there with Polvellan Manor. Now described as one of Cornwall's most at risk houses.
UPDATE: Soon after putting this piece up I was directed to information relating to the Waves Bar. This information tells us that Cooper threatens to burn down people's houses with them inside. Paul Williams thinks Cooper is a splendid fellow and defended him to the hilt when Devon and Cornwall Police tried to close down the Waves Bar.
If you want insights into the character of Paul Williams, the kind of people he employs, the way he runs his businesses, and his contempt for all authority, then it's all here. Just scroll down to the section on Waves Bar. It'll take a while to read it all, but believe me, it's worth it.
UPDATE 09.07.2018: Here's another worrying insight from Cornwall into Paul Williams' modus operandi.
THE POWYS FRONT
Where it's hats off to Mid Wales Journal reporter Karen Compton. We seem to have finally found a journalist who isn't content with being spoon-fed the Williams' lies. By comparison, the Daily Post has churned out one puff after another that could have been – and probably were – dictated by Paul and Rowena Williams.
Congratulations to Ms Compton also for recognising that the 'sale' of the properties to Keith Partridge may be no more than a transfer of shares, just smoke and mirrors.
The Mid Wales Journal report states that the hotels owned by Paul and Rowena Williams – via Leisure & Development Ltd – were sold to "Keith Partridge of Coast 2 Coast Limited".
There appear to be four companies answering to that name with which Partridge is involved: Coast 2 Coast Resorts Ltd; Coast2Coast Land Ltd; Coast2Coast Shores Ltd; Coast 2 Coast Developments Ltd. (Why no Coast 2 Coast Coasts Ltd?) Though Sukhbinder Singh Heer, who also joined Leisure & Development Ltd on the same day as Partridge, has no involvement with any of them. So how does he fit in?
Then there's the Charge taken on against Leisure & Development Ltd, with shady lender Together Commercial Finance Ltd after the Partridge takeover, this is the Charge we looked at in connection with the Waves Bar in Seaton.
If this Charge explains how the purchase was funded then we are asked to believe that Partridge raised ten million pounds to buy these properties, at what must be crippling rates given his criminal record and the reputation of the lender . . . then he leaves a number of them empty!
As I've consistently suggested, the alleged sale of these properties to Keith Partridge was a subterfuge; done partly to take the heat off Paul and Rowena Williams, and partly to raise more money. Which explains why the Mid Wales Journal found it so difficult to contact any of them.
The Mid Wales Journal headline reads, 'Assembly Acts Over Shut Hotels', which I'm not sure is correct. What the report actually says is that the Assembly is looking into whether any public funding paid to the Knighton Hotel and the Radnorshire Arms Hotel can be recouped. Which to me looks a long way short of action.
We have since learnt from Kirsty Williams AM that under the Tourism Investment Support Scheme the Knighton Hotel received £254,200 and the Radnorshire Arms £170,000. This, remember, is just one funding stream, for it's suggested that these two establishments received more than the figures just quoted.
What I find most disturbing in this aspect of the affair is the admission by the Minister responsible (a certain Dafydd Elis Thomas), " . . . the applicant (Mr & Mrs Paul and Rowena Williams) failed to provide final post completion information despite numerous requests to do so".
So Paul and Rowena Williams trousered £424,200, then refused to confirm that it had been spent properly, or at all; yet the 'Welsh' Government couldn't be bothered to send a pith-helmeted expedition into darkest Powys to check. The conscientious civil servants handling our money just shrugged their shoulders and said, 'Nah, sod it!'.
As I've mentioned, I have a FoI request with the 'Welsh' Government asking about grants to the Williams Gang and their properties. I got a reply asking me to stipulate which grants I was enquiring about, presumably in the hope I'd screw up and ask about grants for growing rape seed. But should I need to be so specific?
Are we to believe that there is no central reference for grant funding? That it's impossible to type 'Knighton Hotel' or 'Paul Steven Williams' into a shared database and not be told how much grant funding they've received? There used to a website called Transparent Wales(?) that provided this information at the click of a mouse, what happened to it?
We've already encountered Paul Williams' sister Debra Yvonne Oswald, who seems to have jetted about the world a bit, and may occasionally be found in Goa. 'Goa!', you cry, 'Goa!'. Yes indeedy, the former Portuguese colony, now a state of India, destination for hippies and all manner of interesting characters.
But Debs is no hippy, she's a businesswoman, and she has a company in Goa, Pleasant Time Guest Houses Private Ltd. though it looks like another of those companies that's never done anything. Formed in November 2007 it held its last AGM 30 September 2014 and is currently lined up for strike off.
The other directors are Debra's husband, her (and Paul's) parents, and a Peter d'Souza, probably a local lawyer.
Goa. Wait! are those the chalets from behind the Radnorshire Arms?
Why would the Williams family want to start a company in a place notorious for being a gangsters' paradise, where Nigerian, Russian and Israeli gangsters launder their money and do their deals? And with India being a country from which it's notoriously difficult to extradite anyone to the UK.
TIME TO CLOSE THE TRAP
At the risk of repeating myself . . .
We have here a gang involved in some kind of financial crime. It could be mortgage fraud, it could be money laundering, it could be both. To which can be added a host of lesser offences, among them the non-payment of income tax and national insurance, or damaging a listed building . . .
A combination of sunshine, Argie red and digging into the antics of these crooks is making my brain boil. I've written over ten thousand words on these shysters – I need a break. So unless startlingly fresh information comes in I shall hold back on the Williams Gang until I write a more general update.
That said, there is now enough information in the public domain to justify action from the police, HMRC, the 'Welsh' Government, and a number of local authorities and other bodies.
I would suggest that this action be taken sooner rather than later. I say that because Paul and Rowena Williams must know the game is up, and so it would be reasonable to assume that they're looking for a way out. They can't go back, and there's no way forward, so they've got to slip out through a side door.
They have enough money to go anywhere. So unless they're pulled in pronto Paul Williams might soon be sunning himself on Calangute Beach in Goa, next to Sergei 'Skullcrusher' Ivanov, feared enforcer for the St Petersburg mob.
We've done enough weeping for Wales, let's start doing something positive!
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