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.
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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.
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‘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”.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
♦ end ♦
One of the above mentioned convinced fraudsters has just purchased the hotel in which I work. We have been told that it will stay open for the next 12months then will be redeveloped for housing ( we have been told this by previous owner) we have also been told that we will receive any redundancies etc that we are entitled to. What should we expect, and what do you advise us to do?
Do you mean Keith Partridge? Who owns the hotel now?
Andrew Baragwanath
I note that now The Radnorshire Arms, The Knighton Hotel, The Castle Inn and Waves are all up for sale. The Knighton Hotel in particular seems to be half the building it used to be.
As regards the Knighton, I think the photo used is misleading, though of course it is two separate buildings. Here they are, open them and click on ‘Download property details’.
And once again they get away with doing what they want n treating hard working people like shit beneath there feet
They have got away with it!
Unbelievable!
Rumour hath it that our Paul has been playing with matches in his bat cave at Plas Glynllifon, On Saturday the 27th Nov a great pall of black acrid smoke was seen erupting from inside the battlements. A tree also went up in flames. The Fire Brigade arrived, but couldn’t initially gain access.
Hope the insurance policies are well in place!
I thought that this forum was intended to discuss the Williams Gang and the poor chap that got his marching orders from Seiont Manor. It seems to have descended into a general political discussion. Doesn’t anybody care about what happened at the SM??? Even the Daily Post has not as yet printed my letter.
IS EVERYBODY HAPPY TO LET THE WILLIAMSES WALK CLEAN AWAY FROM THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES AS EMPLOYERS?
So how do you propose to enforce any judgement ? While some of us might favour a more “direct” form of justice the nature of society today dictates that we would immediately cast as criminals and the Williams gang would be the injured parties. If you live in that area press the matter with your local A.M ( Plaid ?) local M.P (Plaid) local Police Commissioner ( Plaid ) all of whom should have a measure of interest in the dubious colonial exploitation of assets within the territory. The local authority have a huge interest, as should Y Cynulliad as a provider of assorted financial assistance in grants, handouts etc.
This forum is Jac’s site and he tolerates a degree of meandering as long as it touches upon the condition of our nation and the challenges it faces today and into the future. The Williams episode is but one aspect of the shitstorm we face nevertheless an important one because it is symptomatic of much that is wrong in Wales today.
So spooky Matthew Ford is now on the central committee of Yes.Cymru. He used to be in the Green Party and was part of the protests against power stations about 10 years ago that were heavily infiltrated by plod. He is an agent of the U.K. state and the “brains” behind McEvoy.
Wake up Royston before it is too late.
The ‘profile’ of Matthew Ford is that he’s a sometimes over enthusiastic activist.
He is evidently not the ‘brains’ behind MvEvoy, who quite correctly spreads his support base widely. Mathew is renowned for the jokey tweet he sent some time ago from McEvoys twitter account. It was a photo of McEvoy in his boxing gloves squaring up to Leanne. Some found this offensive in the false claim that McEvoy likes to beat up women. The joke fell with the tumble weed and the tweet was removed when McEvoy returned to the office.
More important than the ‘he said – she said’ tweetery, what evidence do you have that Matthew Ford is an ‘agent’ of the state of the United Kingdom?
The special branch police officer that infiltrated the ‘power station saboteurs’ was uncovered and sacked (asked to resign and did so) after he used his manufactured back-story to have sex with a female activist. This was not Ford. The special branch operation was instigated as it was feared by the Westminster government (Labour at the time) that the ‘power station saboteurs’ would put the energy supply in jeopardy. It was based on the false premise that climbing a power station chimney on the Medway would halt production. The police operation was evidently bungled.
Expressed knowledge finds there is only one person in Wales who has received internal briefings from the United Kingdom government on this matter. That person is a member of the Labour Party, staunchly unionist, now a member of Caldicot Community Council, currently employed in a PR role by EDF, established fake comradeship with the power station saboteurs at, and was formally resident, in the Medway area where the activists did the chimney abseil.
Who are you Oyaxx?
What is your evidence?
Who fills your pay packet?
Observers of the Senedd debate on dumping of radioactive mud from Hinkley in Wales waters may have noticed that a Labour AM said that there was ‘no scientific evidence’ that the surface testing of deposit was insufficient. This false statement. It originated from EDF Cadicot. Any engineer or scientist is well aware of the sedimentary profile of particles of different specific gravity in a fluid, as are those who pan for gold in the Cothi. Hot particles containing ‘heavy’ nuclear elements will be found at the bottom of such fluidised (in sea) sediment.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0265931X9390063D
The above science does not apply in the world of Welsh Labour or EDF Caldicot. I have no doubt that EDF will launch a public relation damage limitation project, as they do in France, which is the reason why I ask ‘Oyaxx’ to identify him/herself and any evidence that an aid to McEvoy is an ‘agent’ of the state. If there are personal reasons why ‘Oyaxx’ does not want to come clean, then he can do so confidentially via Jill Evans MEP who can not only raise this matter in another place independent of the UK state. Although she’s from Rhondda, she always turns up to important votes.
I would, however, be interested why the Plaid Cymru linguist was suspended from Yes Cymru. His French is as good as his Breton. Oyaxx has been afforded this comment, so it would be polite to answer the questions here raised.
Matthew Ford worked for Jill Evans for many years so your advice is useless. And he most certainly is the brains behind McEvoy as any Plaid member in Cardiff could tell you.
McEvoy and Ford have never voiced opposition to Hinkley C itself despite having ample opportunity to do so.
Thirty years ago you probably would have pooh-poohed the rumour that Martin McGuinness was a British agent and you’d have been wrong about that too.
I think you’re getting into really deep waters now, saying the kind of things only someone hiding behind a phoney name can. I’ll probably block you soon.
Inevitably, a politician like Neil McEvoy will offend someone, or make enemies, and by embarrassing the nuclear industry he has drawn himself to the attention of powerful forces outside of Wales. Which means that you could be that of which you accuse Matthew Ford – an agent of the UK state.
If not, then you are part of the ongoing anti-McEvoy campaign in Wales that takes in elements of Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party, the whole of Deryn, and has most recently surfaced as a disruptive element within YesCymru.
Either way, no one’s going to take your allegations seriously.
McEvoy , warts and all, is worth a shed full of these mealy mouthed little shits. Nuff said.
You have a point Dafis.
Did a straw poll of (10 persons, 50/50MF) my Mileniwm trail cycling crowd in the caff break at Pwll. They know my politics, however, these days a quick way of familiarising the mark of a candidate – Twitter. After looking at what these individuals say on the ishoos of the day on ‘social media’ and bearing in mind that some have previously voted Labour and some previously voted Plaid, some already familiar to a greater or lesser extent with the candidates. Here is the result of the poll, with the question would you consider voting for Senedd if it was the candidate standing against the Tories.
0 Helen Mary Jones (Plaid)
4 Lee Waters (Labour)
4 Sean Rees (ex-Plaid)
1 Mari Arthur (Plaid)
1 Sian Caiach (ex-Plaid)
When asked if McEvoy was the Plaid candidate in the Llanelli constituency and up against Lee Waters, the result was..
8 Neil McEvoy (if he was Plaid)
2 Lee Waters (Labour)
I don’t know if Plaid have a ‘focus group’ administered from Cardiff Bay but my straw poll is made up of a railway guard, barmaid, nurse, binman, steel fabricator, teacher, DVLA clerk, council admin, student and Uni technician. Suprisingly the loyalty to party was not so important but both Lee Waters and McEvoy get support for their preparedness to “put themselves about a bit” and stir thing up.
Your points are well made. Indeed senior Plaid “managers” would do well to direct that future focus groups should draw on the sort of people that you mentioned. However the myopic intellectual capacity so prevalent at or near the top tier will dictate that views drawn from such common folk cannot be taken seriously as these people are probably not in touch with current thought leadership in areas like social and political dynamics at micro and macro level ( i.e lack a sufficient store of bullshit). However Ein Gwlad leaders might nip down their local or sport club and glean an awful lot about the grim realities of living under the current regimes ensuring good quality material for critical appraisals of current policies and decisions.
Sorry, yes, not the good-looking one married to Princess Markle 1st – forgot about the weird-looking one.
If a younger royal wants a palace in Wales, I think they’ll prefer to be nearer the bright lights of Cardiff. Also, although I thought we’d seen the last of such circuses, I now think that, as part of these ‘concerted efforts to shore up the Kingdom’, they’ll try and do another investiture when Harry gets the Wales job. Expect a tsunami of propaganda, with AMs tugging the forelock – except for MacEvoy, and maybe, just maybe, Plaid Cymru.
If justice catches up with the Williamses, the National Trust (not Cadw) will fork out for the Plas (always assuming the surrounding parc isn’t sold to Redrow or Liberty Holdings). Too cold and wet for a celebrity.
Harry would need a place for horses, a barrack block for some of the queens own (for show), RMPs for security, and access to an RAF base for the helicopter jollies. Would need to build high walls but main gate infrastucture is already present. I also see a role for Lord DafyddEl as the British Union lickspittle after he’s evicted from politics.
given the rhino texture of royal skins they would likely opt for a country pile in rural Herefordshire or further north, say Cheshire/Shropshire, as that would be close enough, for them, to the Principality ( don’t they and the host of asslickers just love that word). Chuck already has some sort of country pad down by Llanddeusant, seldom used by him, but there again occupying these places doesn’t seem to matter. It’s all about ownership and poncing about in the finest royal tradition.
By the way, I doubt whether Harry’ll get the Wales job. He has an older brother busy breeding a next generation of inheritors. So it’s William, then George……. It’s time they recycled Rupert into the list of “nice names” as Owain, Llywelyn and Arthur just won’t do and Myrddin would cause serious speech impediments.
Carlo has three official county residences, Birkall in Scotland, Highgrove in England, and Llwynywermwd in Wales. There are three ways the Carlo can acquire or dispose of county piles outside of London.
(1) Inheritance.
In modern times the aristocrats of England tend not to go in for arranged marriages so there are less opportunities for this type of acquisition, and well maintained county estates tend to end up in the clutches of the National Trust as a tax dodge. The last time a royal got a property of this type was when Carlo inherited Birkhall in Aberdeenshire from his gran.
(2) Purchase or sale by the Duchy of Cornwall.
This ‘Duchy’ is an organisation which is mostly funded from agricultural activities. It is the largest single recipient of EU funds from the Common Agricultural Policy in the United Kingdom. This will obviously change after Brexit. The Llwynywermwd estate near Myddfai in Carmarthenshire was acquired in 2007 by purchase of the Duchy. Carlo needed a bolt hole for his mistress, Camilla, until he told his mam, and this property was not associated with Diana when they officially lived at Highgrove House, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.
(3) Act of the Westminster parliament.
This was last used in 1987 when Chevening House in Kent was ‘nationalised’ for use by the London government. The original Chevening Estate Act 1959 was amended with the Chevening Estate Act 1987 so the ‘controlling trustee’ became the “Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs” and Carlo evicted. Apparently he didn’t like the property as in involved being driven through South London traffic, so he agreed to relinquish his ‘tenancy for life’ at Chevening.
Obviously, after Brexit there will need to be an ‘Agricultural Payments Act’, and part of the reason for the powers grab from the devolved administrations. Under the EU rules the Duchy of Cornwall is solvent by default, the properties are considered to be just another agricultural landholding. However, if the crown administered a rural payments scheme, there would need to be ‘special provision’ for the Duchy of Cornwall. This would be unpopular.
It is more likely that Llwynywermwd and Highgrove be sold off (no stamp duty) and another tax-free taxpayer subsidised revenue stream be obtained to support Carlo and Camilla or their successors. I suspect this will be the ‘rural education sector’, hence the ideal solution at Glynllifon. If it became ‘available’ and arrangements via an Act of the Westminster parliament to lubricate the deal, without the Welshies having a say. Jacs FoI request on Coleg Menai may come back with a refusal under the Official Secrets Act and if he keeps asking, be found like Willie MacRae.
Dealing with Birkhall will not be easy. Unlike in Wales, the Scottish Government were no so accommodating to relinquish their authority. It’s more likely to be ‘nationalised’ like Chevening was in the 1980s and probably handed over to the Secretary of State for Scotland for the viceroy role.
Plas Glynllifon is NOT a viable business proposition as a stand-alone posh hotel and Spa. If it were it would have been snapped up by one of the existing global hotel chains.
The only way to make money on such a venture is to evict Coleg Menai off site (or shunt them into small corner hidden by leylandii), grab the surrounding land off Cyngor Gwynedd, and to develop high value housing at the road entrance, then convert the Plas into a kind of theme park. Even if this was the plan, Paul and Rowena have obviously made a dogs dinner of it.
I suspect the building will come onto the market again, minus fixtures and fittings with a load of cac-handed bodges to fix on the fabric of the structure, either by the immanent civil foreclosure on the Williams’s or by court writ if criminality has been found. So who would buy it at nominal value?
National Trust (if they want to burn money).
Cadw.
Crown Estate Commissioners (as a royal palace).
The only property of similar type in the hands of Cadw is Castell Coch which was handed over to the Ministry of Works at the end of WW2 and this only happened as part of a deal for nationalising the Bute collieries for the NCB.
If we assume that Queen Betty dies, then Carlo will become King of England, this may result in a scramble of now numerous minor royals for official residences. There are none in Wales. With the United Kingdom entering another fragile period there will be a concerted efforts to shore up the Kingdom, much more than stamping packs of chicken breast in Tescos with Union Jacks. Fake investitures in Wales won’t work anymore and is likely to be counter productive for the royals. So it’s not beyond possibility that Plas Glynllifon may well be ‘rescued’ for the crown as part of ‘modernisation’. No hunting and shooting more like rare breed livestock, bees and butterflies.
I hear the sound of salivating viceroys and Llais y Sais dropping that story on 12 things to eat in Abersychan.
Jac this is yet another excellent article on these crooks. I want to point out something to you which might just help this poor man who has been so wronged by these people.
The Williams couple can open and close as many companies as they want and they do, but they cant escape the point in company law regarding control. They still maintain control and they need to be reported to companies house for exercising control over a company whilst having others ‘front the operation’ This is illegal. Companies House and Trading standards can issue a court order for all of their records – phones, personal emails, alias acconts etc. And this is what is needed so they utilise these records for a criminal case.
Make no mistake what they are doing is criminal, and If the attention of the right people at Companies House can be attracted they will be dragged through the courts. This case is very bad for Wales in terms of attracting good investors.
Im also pleased to see HMRC are showing interest because again IF their assesments on valuations are correct and they are looking to avoid eating prison food for the next 15 years (again it could be deemed fraudulant if it can be shown they were inflating valuations in order to attract invetment) then within their personal tax records they should have a huge amount of personal tax to pay, and if they cant then HMRC will declare them personally bankrupt and claim their assets.
Ive also noted in the Daily Post they now say that the Williams couple had sold the business subject to contract. Well they hadnt sold it then, which makes all of their stataements in the paper again fraudulant. You have sold nothing if you still have a contract to agree in business all you may have is a heads of agreement. So the mid Wales sale is just another move by desperate crooks and it looks as if Partridge is running to the hills for cover.
On the Police I have reported them in the past and I dont think the Welsh police are bright enough for these characters. I have personally witnessed the local plod walking away from Rowena Williams when he had a warrant for her arrest because she said she had to collect the kids from school. The fact that it wasnt term time escaped the numb skull.
The only chance that poor person has of getting his money is to show that Williams were still the controlling party in the business and then he can take them personally through the courts. If he crowd funds the case many will put in to pay his costs.
Regarding the unfair dismissal, the first thing that needs to be clarified in the company involved, because two are mentioned on the Employment Tribunal document. At the beginning it’s Tural Retreats and Leisure Ltd now known as Polvellan Manor Ltd, sole director Keith Harvey Partdridge (sic). But the directors when the kitchen porter was dismissed were Paul and Rowena Williams.
Later in the document the company named is Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd, and I think this is the company involved, with the ‘UK@ having been missed out at the start. The sole director of this company now is the mysterious Michael Jones, with a correspondence address given as Polvellan House, Looe. But at the time of the dismissal the only named director was Rowena Williams. There was an attempt to strike off this company in May, but it was halted by an objection.
Establishing the ‘sale’ to Partridge was a sham may not be that easy. Though it could be that Partridge is beginning to realise the position he’s in, because as I mentioned in an earlier response, the Administrator’s proposals says that Partridge is challenging the transfer of the shares to him. Could it have been done without his knowledge?
Stay tuned, folks!
I struggle to keep up with the recent timeline of who’s a director of L&D Ltd but haven’t the administrators either been sucked in or colluded with the Williams? The proposals document in the Brief Background paras says the company owned 6 properties. It continues by stating the (unnamed) operating company closed the 3 properties it traded then new directors were appointed. Plans were made to reinvigorate the sites THEN there was a planned change of ownership both of which did not come to fruition. They also don’t seem to question PW’s directorship. To me it is worrying that companies house just seem to accept all this and don’t even refer back to records lodged with them.
I still think this is all smoke and mirrors and that the Williamses will come out of this with property intact and debts written off. Isn’t that why businesses form all these sub companies, insurance for tits up and tax?
There’s no question that the £10m ‘sale’ to Keith Partridge was nonsense. The plan to ‘reinvigorate’ the sites was Partridge’s ‘re-branding and refurbishment’ used as justification for closing various establishments. But, again, nonsense, because he never owned them.
Go to the Companies House entry for Leisure & Development Ltd, the ‘Filing History’ page. There you’ll see that on February 1 there was a big changeover in directors, but this wasn’t registered with Companies House until the end of April, almost three months later. No question in my mind that this was back-dated, it didn’t really happen on February 1.
Among those ceasing to be directors on February were Paul Williams’ two sons by an earlier marriage and others, possibly staff, who may bot have know they were directors. On the same date, Plas Glynllifon Ltd ceased to be “a person with significant control”. When the dust had settled, there were just three directors: Paul Williams, Keith Partridge and Sukhbinder Singh.
On July 24 Paul Williams ceased to be a director and on the same day the 10,000 shares were transferred from Plas Glynllifon Ltd to Keith Partridge. In this regard I find it interesting that in Appendix A of the Administrator’s proposals it states, against ‘Shareholders’: “Keith partridge – 10,000 shares (as per Companies House records) – we are aware that this share transfer is disputed by Mr Partridge.”
On paper, Partridge owns all the shares in Leisure & Development Ltd, and this company owns all the properties. It’s nothing to do with Paul and Rowena Williams, who are claiming £11,751,698 for what Leisure & Development Ltd owes them . . . from the time they owned the company and bought properties from themselves at greatly inflated prices.
It could be that Williams left Partridge holding the baby. Or maybe they’re just trying to sow confusion as to who owns what, and who is ultimately responsible. But Partridge knew Williams, and he must have known what he was getting into.
Maybe we’ll never know the full story, but unless they’ve got an ace in the hole it’s the end for Paul and Rowena Williams because of their debts and the fact no one will lend them money.
If the Daily Post print my letter, I’m suggesting a Crowdfund to get the poor chap from Seiont Manor some better legal advice. These parasites mustn’t be allowed to ride roughshod over us!
I have informed Companies House of the Employment Tribunal decision, so let’s hope this information thwarts any attempt to strike off the company owing the money.
Sorry on holiday or would do this for you Jac – trading standards are also a good point of contact. The different company names on the court case wont invalidate the claim. He can go against the two companies if need be. They will look at this from the point of view of them trying to create a deception.
If the hotels were mortgaged up, how did they manage to split off parts of the buildings/properties into their own names, the lenders have in effect lost clear title to the properties?
The title for the land taken from the Castle Inn at Wigmore is dated 03.08.2015, the same date as Paul and Rowena Williams sold the greater part of the property to Leisure & Development Ltd. There is a Restriction dated the same day in favour of the National Westminster Bank.
Though in the case of the Norton Showroom, hasn’t this always been separate? Possibly the flat as well?
Norton showroom was a car sales place but the flats were always I believe part of the hotel but one was rented to the car sales people as offices or workrooms. Either way Williams cut off the entrance from the show room and then proceeded to turn them into flats for staff and I understand didnt pay any rates on them. He charged people for rent and deducted the sum from wages so he could pay people below the legal rate. No planning was sought and he was going to claim residential development based on them being occupied for four years and the council not serving him with an enforcement notice. I know this Jac because he said he could sell them as part of raising extra cash. The cellar again they kept I understand under a seperate registered number because he offered it for rent under his own name to a micro brewer and wanted to claim a govt grant.
No one will buy the Knighton Hotel without the cellars. Just imagine trying to run a hotel and constantly worrying about what was going on under your feet!
The Daily Post have now picked up on the Seiont Manor saga. Nice to note that they no longer report a “multi million “ development of Plas Glynllifon.
I hope “Weep for Wales 11” will be able to confirm that the dynamic duo are behind bars; the type of bars you find in a prison, not the bars you find in a hotel. Well done Jac.
I’m afraid not, Wynne. There are a few more twists and turns yet. (Plus the fact that Weep for Wales 11 is already forming in my head!) But it looks as if they’re cornered. Stuck in the mansion they don’t have the money to finish, and with little prospect of securing legitimate funding.
It’s a Tolstoyan in it’s proportion and theme. War and peace chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia – Weep for Wales – the English invasion of Cymru. I cannot praise Jac enough for his effort. vigour, determination (better not praise Jac too much or his head will get too big and his hat may fall off.) and his patriotism for Wales..
Yes…. there maybe a problem with Adam Price. In Harvard he studied public administration – setting Wales up for big socialist government?
He probably cacked his pants like Hilary Clinton did after the last US election when he heard the Brexit referendum result. His whole independence and economic theory is based on being in the European socialist/communist dictatorship – where Wales will open it’s border and give it’s sovereignty to the EU on a silver plate.
Adam Price – independence lite? – having a border with England but open borders with the EU. Will there be troubles in the EU in 2050 or even 2030 when he wants to get a referendum Act for Wales off her majesty’s government?
Has the man got foresight or is he blinkered and only has eyes for a vision of the socialist utopian dream of the EU that could accommodate his particular skills of public administration?. The EU, daily, is losing it’s credibility as some entity for Europeans to have a safe prosperous Europe that they can call their home.
The EU is trying to eradicate nationalism – is Price?
Wales voted for Brexit – is Price starting a movement that intends to get us back into the EU ……..well… yes!
Wales’s border with the EU will be the wet bit, half way between An Tuscarin, Co Wexford and Pwllgwaelod, Sir Penfro.No problem this beinging an open border. What happens with the border to the east, into England, is a matter of discussion, but Wales should make its OWN decision.They bang on about the ‘Irish Border’, there isn’t one. Just and English border in Ireland. Lets make two new borders for England – on the mainland !
I’ve said it before, but at risk of sounding patronising I’ll say it again. This series of articles have been especially good at times exceeding the consistently high standards of research and the analysis of the information yielded. Well done, we all salute your talent. Just wish our government officials could demonstrate a fraction of this capacity for productive work and start a campaign of punitive actions. I shall not hold my breath !.
Elsewhere just seen a note on Nation.Cymru where a senior member of Ein Gwlad presented a very sober critique of Adam Price’s stance and what he might do, or not, in the future. Well the abuse is unbelievable yet very few have managed to make coherent points. These must be the absolute indoctrinaires of Plaid’s inner clique, the adherents of the most recent version of the gospel according to Stalin/Hitler and Mao, people with a topsy turvy view of priorities willing to forego the big priorities just to engage in skirmishes on matters which will in due course be sorted with minimal fuss. But it’s so much easier to kick up a rumpus on the fringes rather than get stuck into why the Welsh economy is tanking thus justifying our other enemies’ proposition that Wales can’t stand on its own economically. The model these guys peddle won’t stand up anywhere.
So who was responsible for the valuations, and why did the banks go along with it??
My guess would be that the valuations were done by Dudley Cross.
And because of his Lambert Smith Hampton connection the banks would have accepted the valuations.
I’m so glad the kitchen porter with learning difficulties at the Seiont Manor won his case at Employment Tribunal.
Unfair dismissal
Breach of Contract
Unpaid statutory holiday.
Discrimination on the basis of disability.
There is no way any local authority, the Welsh Government, or Coleg Llandrillo-Menai can do any business with these scumbags.
Of course, the poor chap who won this tribunal may not be able to collect the £27,907.42 compensation.
Should he wish to employ bailiffs to collect this sum, it is against company Rural Retreats and Leisure Ltd, which changed its name to Povellan Manor Ltd. Shortly after, we see Paul Williams paid himself £29,488, Rowena Williams paid herself £29,488 and Ms Oswald paid herself £2,543,230 making this company insolvent.
I suspect the bailiff can only collect the debt on the company named in the tribunal.
It’s worth bearing in mind of course that the figures we’re accepting for this company were compiled by convicted fraudster John Duggan. Or if someone else compiled the figures then he may have been the only one they could find prepared to put his name to them.
Rural retreats & leisure uk ltd applied to strike off the company in May 2018, but it was suspended due to an objection being received in June 2018. So rural retreats UK are still active.
He probably won’t get the compensation and it’s disgraceful that people like this get away with treating people so badly. Good on him for taking them to tribunal.nit can’t have been easy.
Different companies.
Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd (now Polvellan Manor Ltd) Company Number 04880966 is the company involved in the Industrial Tribunal. Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd Company Number 09502597 is another Williams company that is, confusingly, based at Polvellan House.
I believe that using different companies with very similar names is designed to confuse people. I come across it regularly. You’ll find another recent example in the post Wilmslow-sur-mer. There was a company called Natural Retreats UK Ltd but the name was changed 01.11.2017 to The Great UK Travel Company Ltd.
On 25.10.2017 a company was formed called NRML Technology Ltd which changed its name in June this year to Natural Retreats UK Ltd.
There is definitely a connection between the two, despite the new company having been formed with directors from the USA. But what is the purpose of changing the name of one company and then reviving it with another company?
Seems the ‘Notice’ documents show Rural Retreats UK and the ‘Tribunal’ judgement document does not have UK in the company name. So confusing as to what would happen in this case.
Seems that the ‘Notice’ document has Rural Retreat UK and the ‘Tribunal Judgement’ document does not have UK in the company name. So what would happen in this case, obviously same company.
Bloody Hell! You’re right.
Yes ! Well spotted.
Had the Williams’s turned up to the tribunal they could have argued that they are different companies. They didn’t. In the event the tribunal must have considered that the notice of compensation payable would rest within ‘continuance of business’, the payroll continued to the new company, hence its notice that Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Limited will have to pay.
Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Limited filed for voluntary strike-off in May 2018, but this was suspended as an objection was received. This objection could have been from a trade creditor or, more likely, NatWest bank who has a fixed charge on property (which one?). The charge also says that the property cannot be disposed of before the amount owing is satisfied and companies house has this recorded as still outstanding.
The amount is recoverable from Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Limited.
CCJ and then escalate to high court writ is the way to go.
The objection was received from a concerned citizen of Presteigne. He pinned the news to the door of the Radnorshire Arms and Rowena Williams was very annoyed to see it. Understandable, because at the time of the dismissal of the kitchen porter there were just two directors – herself and Leisure & Development Ltd, the company in liquidation.
Rowena Williams ceased to be a director of Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Limited on 14/04/2018 and the objection to voluntary strike off was on 02/06/2018. Why was Rowena “annoyed” about what happened after she officially has no longer any interest in that business, and more to the point, why was she even allowed inside the Radnorshire Arms months after she resigned as a director?
Hang on, I think we’re all getting confused here. Rowena Williams ceased to be a director of Rural Retreats & Leisure UK Ltd on 1 December 2017.
They still had access to the Radnorshire Arms in June because they still owned it through Leisure & Development Ltd, which went into administration in August.
Though of course we were expected to believe that Keith Partridge took over Leisure & Development Ltd on 1 February.
Who owned what when can get sorted out via Companies House. The main point is the company has to be treated as a ‘person’ in its own right and under law you are not allowed to harm that person. This is regardless of who ever owns it. So if the Williams couple can be shown to have harmed the limited companies to effectively stop a sale or to devalue the company so liabilities cannot be met then they become personally liable. [will give you jac the exact reference under law when back off holiday]
Good article
If the kitchen porter doesn’t get his money, now that a county court judgment has been made, he can transfer the matter to the High Court, who will send the bailiffs in. If the Williams pair prove difficult, personal property to the value of the sum owed will be removed. Ultimately, the Williams pair can’t get round this.
I suspect a CCJ can only be obtained against the company named by the tribunal.
I was talking about a possible future High Court writ. As far as I know, a payment ordered by the HCJ cannot be avoided simply by changing the name of the company if the owners of the new ‘company’ are still the same; if there are new genuine owners, there has to be written proof, because the debt would, I think, pass to them. But none of this applies to Seiont Manor, since we know it’s owned by the Williamses.
Should the Williams pair ignore the writ, then if Rikki Reynolds proves obstructive when the bailiffs pay a call, property to the value of the sum stated on the writ will be removed. At that point a panicky Reynolds will be on the phone to the Williamses, who will be obliged to come round and hand over the cash or make a debit card payment, or else (if they’re broke) make a payment arrangement involving a monthly direct debit.
The bailiffs’ best course of action would be to go to wherever the Williamses are living at the time.