My intention was to start winding down this blog, spend more time with my wife, grand-children, books, Malbec . . . but things keep cropping up. That said, it’s very unlikely I shall undertake major new investigations. Diolch yn fawr.
♦
I had planned to put this article out some six months ago, but other things kept cropping up.
But we’re here now, so let’s turn our attention once again to the handsome old pile that is Plas Glynllifon, just off the A499, near Llandwrog, south west of Caernarfon.
Those of you who’ve followed this saga – and there are many of you – will be familiar with the outline of the story and the main players, so you can probably skip the first two sections, which I’ve put in for newcomers.
Though I have to admit that going through previous postings helped refresh my memory, because a hell of a lot has happened.
The reason for returning to Glynllifon is partly because I want to introduce the new owner . . . and it’s not the guy mentioned by Owen Hughes of the Daily Post in this article.
Also, because I’ve learnt of a Danish connection, and these new Scandinavian links take us back to Gwynedd. Small world, eh!
Even though this is another biggie, it’s broken up into manageable chunks. So take your time, follow the links, get the full picture.
And don’t expect anything next week!
◊
PAUL AND ROWENA WILLIAMS
The first article in this saga, Weep for Wales, appeared in June 2018. When I wrote it I had no idea I’d be writing number 19 over three years later. (If you’ve got a rainy day you could go through 1 – 18!)
It all began when my attention was drawn to the sudden closure of a pub and a hotel, both in Powys. People lost their jobs, contractors and suppliers went unpaid, all of which resulted in a lot of anger in Knighton, Presteigne, and the area round about.
Officially, these premises – the Knighton Hotel and the Radnorshire Arms Hotel – were closed by their new owner, convicted fraudster, Keith Harvey Part(d)ridge.
But that was a sham. The real owners were still Paul and Rowena Williams, who wanted out, so Part(d)ridge agreed to go through the charade of taking over Leisure & Development Ltd, the company that owned the Powys hotels (and other properties).
This company had been set up in January 2015 so that the Williamses could ‘buy’ properties they already owned. With ludicrously inflated prices attached to every one, which then enabled them to borrow millions of pounds from the NatWest Bank.
The latest figures show that following the collapse of Leisure & Development Ltd, and after liquidators had sold off the properties, the company still owes NatWest £6.2m.
To give you an example of the kind of inflated valuations that can account for a sum like that let’s look at the Radnorshire Arms Hotel in Presteigne. According to the Land Registry Leisure & Development paid £3,487,049 for the property in August 2015.
It was sold earlier this year for £240,000.
Admittedly, that was a knockdown price because the administrators wanted shot of it, but even so, ‘The Rad’ wasn’t worth a quarter of what Paul and Rowena Williams claim to have paid for it in 2015.
The focus for the Gruesome Twosome shifted north in 2016 when they bought Plas Glynllifon. The purchase made through their company, Plas Glynllifon Ltd. The Land Registry title document tells us that the sum paid for Plas Glynllifon was £630,000.
Plas Glynllifon Ltd was declared insolvent in the County Court at Caernarfon 14 May, 2020. And finally wound up by Companies House a few weeks ago.
The two directors at the end were Rowena Claire Williams and Myles Andrew Cunliffe. More on Cunliffe in a moment.
Even though the Williamses paid £630,000 for the old pile the only accounts ever filed want us to believe that Plas Glynllifon Ltd’s assets total £10,610,319. Almost totally explained by Paul and Rowena Williams putting in £10,123,910.
(Though it’s worth bearing in mind that these accounts were drawn up by John Duggan, of Leintwardine, another fraudster who’s done time in prison.)
Theoretically, this injection of cash could be explained by the £11m+ Paul and Rowena Williams are supposed to have received from Part(d)ridge for Leisure & Development Ltd.
But then they seemed to undermine that possibility by presenting themselves as creditors to the administrators handling Leisure & Development, claiming they were still owed the £11,751,698 ‘sale’ price.
Which raises the question – if they hadn’t received that money from Part(d)ridge, where did the £10m+ ‘invested’ in Plas Glynllifon come from?
‘O what a tangled web we weave . . . ‘
As 2018 drew to a close, with Paul and Rowena sitting down with a cup of hot cocoa after writing their letters to Santa, they ruefully accepted that the good times were over.
For nobody – not even the ever-gullible ‘Welsh Government’ – was going to give them grants for Plas Glynllifon, and no bank or alternative funder was going to loan them money.
Time to get out.
◊
ENTER THE ‘FINANCE GUY’
Myles Cunliffe first appeared in updates to Weep for Wales 11 which came out on December 3, 2018. This followed the news article of December 5 announcing his arrival.
With Cunliffe saying Plas Glynllifon ‘would be open in months’.
In that article Paul Williams described Cunliffe as a ‘finance guy’. Which is one way of putting it.
Now the thing to understand about Cunliffe is that he was always working with or for others. He never had the cash himself to renovate Plas Glynllifon, or Seiont Manor (the other property in the area owned by Paul and Rowena Williams).
Nor did he have the money to buy a football club. Not even Blackpool.
As I say, Cunliffe had associates, among them, Jon Disley, known in certain circles as the ‘King of Marbella‘. Described in this report from the Sun last year as a ‘career conman’.
Disley is said to live near to Blackpool, in Preston.
The modus operandi described in this Blackpool FC forum is, ‘Stocky scammer Disley was alleged to have bought failing companies, then emptied their bank accounts before they crashed’.
This is often done by advertising loans in the hope of attracting business people who are desperate for money but have been turned down by banks. This is how Goldmann and Sons Plc operated, as we see with the image below from the now closed Twitter account.
You’ll be hearing more about Goldmann and Sons in a minute.
Of course, one drawback is that failing companies are unlikely to have much in their bank accounts.
But there’s another method of making money from a failing company, or a company set up to fail. The latter being favoured by the Duggans of Bryn Llys, who were mentioned in the previous article on this blog.
It goes something like this . . . set up a company, open credit accounts with assorted suppliers, order as much as you can on those accounts, flog off what is supplied (for cash), then let the company fold with the bills unpaid.
It’s an old model, often known as ‘bankruptcy fraud’. There are of course variations.
One is played out in this scene from the Sopranos, in which Tony rips off suppliers to the company run by his old school friend Davey Scatino. Davey’s made the mistake of owing Tony money.
A number of companies with which Cunliffe was involved used the ‘Goldmann and Sons’ handle. With Goldmann and Sons Plc seemingly the holding company.
Though in the beginning, the shares in this parent company were all held by Islandwide Advisory Ltd, an Isle of Man company formed March 31, 2010, by Dennis Rogers.
By the time Goldmann and Sons Plc was dissolved, on June 18, 2019, most of the shares were, according to documents filed at Companies House, held by Myles Cunliffe, in three separate allocations.
The names Cunliffe, Rogers, and Disley’s son-in-law Thomas Ellis, crop up again and again in connection with the name Goldmann. And of course, they ran other companies.
All of which seem to be dissolved / liquidated, abandoned when the spotlight fell on them, or else they just outlived their usefulness. Click on these links for Cunliffe, Rogers and Ellis.
There must be others I’ve missed. Which is understandable because so many of them were ‘mayfly’ companies, here and gone before we – or Companies House – knew anything about them.
The original address for all the Goldmann companies was Queens Court, 24 Queen Street, Manchester M2 5HX. Then, at various dates between March and August in 2018, they all moved to the 2nd Floor, 9 Portland Street, Manchester M1 3BE.
But in addition to the three mentioned, we find interesting directors with some of the other Goldmann companies.
In particular, Goldmann and Sons (Dubai) Ltd, renamed Cunliffe Rogers and Ellis Capital (Dubai) Ltd; Goldmann and Sons (Isle of Man) Ltd, renamed Cunliffe Rogers and Ellis Capital (Isle of Man) Ltd; Goldmann and Sons (Abu Dhabi) Ltd, renamed Cunliffe Rogers and Ellis Capital (Abu Dhabi) Ltd.
All three were formed March 27, 2018, and didn’t hang around for long before being voluntarily dissolved December 31, 2019. There were of course no accounts filed.
And yet, despite their own names appearing in the companies’ names, the three desperadoes never served as directors.
But I’m intrigued by those who were named as directors. One of the names given is shared by a legitimate businessman who’s worked for, among others, Coca-Cola, Diageo, and Proctor & Gamble.
The other named director is an American, said to be resident in the UK, and named on the documents filed with Companies House as Hiram Alfred Preston.
The problem I have with Preston is that, well, I can’t find him. He appears on 192.Com but the only addresses are those for Goldmann and Sons in Manchester.
So I thought he might live in the USA. But I drew another blank even after switching my VPN location to the US.
Does Preston really exist? (The man, not the town.)
There’s so much more I could say about these bastards. There’s the comment to Weep for Wales 18 from Myles Cunliffe’s brother, there’s the company they named after me, but I’ll leave it here for the time being.
◊
SCANDI NOIR
A couple of weeks ago I received a Twitter DM from Denmark. (Not something I can say very often!) The message read:
I'm a Danish investigative journalist and I'm looking into a person who was a director of company half owned by Goldmann & Sons PLC.
As stated, Goldmann and Sons Plc may have served as a holding company for the others in the stable. And as you’ve seen, there were quite a few nags there, some of which changed their name, and all of which – beginning in April 2019 – went out of business.
Though the company my contact was interested in was one I’d overlooked.
My person of interest is named Benny Falk and he was the owner of Goldmann & Sons (Thailand) before it changed name to The European Clothing Company.
Following the lead, I went to the Companies House website and looked up The European Clothing Company Ltd.
In its short life, 18.01.2018 to 31.03.2020, this company submitted no accounts and – as my source suggested – the sole director was Benny Falk. Initially, the 100 shares were divided equally between Falk and Goldmann and Sons Plc.
But Goldmann and Sons Plc pulled out of Benny’s company. In documents lodged with Companies House it was claimed that it ceased to exercise control 18.01.2018, and the shares were transferred to Falk 20.01.2018.
Though I’m suspicious of the documents supplying this information because they were not received by Companies House until a year later. I believe they were back-dated.
Which would mean that Goldmann and Sons Plc severed ties with Benny Falk a month after Cunliffe appeared in Glynllifon, which in turn resulted in him starring in the local media, and also on this blog.
I’m told Benny Falk is a bit of a lad in his own right, but also significant is his association with convicted fraudster and international con man, Klaus Garde Nielsen.
Though according to Linkedin Klaus is a property consultant.
In the decade from 2003, when he was almost certainly banned from being a company director in Denmark, and while claiming to be resident in England, Nielsen launched 50 companies. (CompanyCheck puts the figure at 79.)
Because they were all of the ‘mayfly’ genus Companies House can tell us very little about them.
The connection between Nielsen and Benny Falk is established through Falk’s wife, Saichon Saraphon, who also provides the Thailand connection.
Not only did she take over one of Nielsen’s companies, but Benny had his own ‘mayfly’ companies that shared addresses with Nielsen’s in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, and Braintree in Essex.
Companies such as Evergreen Property Consult Ltd and Suite 302 Ltd.
I lacked both the time and the inclination to go through all of the 50 (or 79) companies registered to Klaus Garde Nielsen in the UK, but one that caught my eye was Profui Ltd. Because the original company address was 3 Bron Trefor in Criccieth . . . about 15 miles from Plas Glynllifon!
This may have been the address of the company treasurer, Geoffrey Michael Pugh.
Or maybe not.
According to the Land Registry this property is owned by housing association Grŵp Cynefin. Here’s the title document.
Naturally, I got to wondering about Geoffrey Michael Pugh, and so I went to the Companies House website, where I found that he had been secretary to dozens of companies.
What these companies had in common was that the directors were all Scandinavian; mainly Danish, but sometimes we find a Swede or a Norwegian. Also, that they were either ‘mayflies’, often returning a loss, and invariably filing as dormant companies.
But a few have lasted the course. One being Rasmussens Boligudlejning Ltd. ‘Boligudlejning’ translates as ‘house rental’. Presumably this company operates in Denmark – so why is it registered in the UK and using as its address a terraced house, and a social housing property, in a village in Eryri?
Before the eponymous Poul Erik Rasmussen took over and changed the name this company was known as Dansk Shelf Services No. 8 Ltd. And the original director was Jesper Lund Hansen.
We find Hansen also engulfed in a swarm of ‘mayfly’ companies, some registered with a Danish address, others in Gwynedd, at Garndolbenmaen, and also in Cricieth.
One that stands out is Biszy Ltd, which ran from November 30, 2006 until July 6, 2021. Despite lasting almost 15 years it only ever filed as a dormant company. Why keep a company alive for so long if it’s – apparently – doing nothing?
I began to wonder if we’re dealing here with some Scandinavian tax avoidance scheme. Perhaps if you register a company in the UK you pay less tax. But then I dismissed the idea because, and as I’ve said, most of the companies of which Pugh was secretary lasted for a very short time.
Something else working against the tax avoidance theory was that a few of the directors I found were Danes living in France and Germany.
So what the hell is going on?
In the hope of finding out I wrote to the two addresses I found for Geoffrey Pugh on the Companies House website, in Garndolbenmaen and Cricieth. I asked him to explain his association with so many Danish and other businessmen, some of whom are criminals.
No reply has been received.
I also wrote to Grŵp Cynefin, asking why their property is involved.
I received a perfunctory acknowledgement last Thursday, promising to look into it. I have received nothing since.
All these Hansens, Jensens and Nielsens are making me quite giddy, so before I fall over and frighten the cat again, I’m going to move on.
UPDATE: Received an e-mail this afternoon from Grŵp Cynefin saying:
'I have made enquiries here and the person you refer to, Geoffrey Michael Pugh, died in 2019. The current tenant of the property has no connection with any previous tenants. I’m unavailable this afternoon but if you need anything further I can contact you tomorrow if you’d like to pass your phone number on to me.'
I’m sorry to hear he’s dead. Though I suppose this means the questions will never be answered now.
◊
THE NEW OWNER OF PLAS GLYNLLIFON – ‘OH NO HE’S NOT!’
Now let’s return to the piece that appeared in the Daily Post in June. It tells us that the new owner of Plas Glynllifon is David Savage of Dragon Investments Ltd.
Well, no, he’s not the new owner.
If we look at what’s been filed for Dragon Investments we see that all the shares are owned by Property Alliance Group Ltd of Trafford Park, Manchester. This not the ‘joint venture’ suggested in his report by Owen Hughes.
Running Property Alliance Group is someone we’ve met before in the form of David Russell. He was ‘introduced’ to me in a bizarre and anonymous letter I received in June 2020. Read all about it in Weep for Wales 18.
Companies House tells us that Savage’s name was used for a few other companies started in the early part of last year.
Ledwyche, Polvellan and Dumbleton are all names I recognise from the Paul and Rowena Williams portfolio. While Caernarfon Properties Ltd owns another fallen outpost of the Williams’ empire, the Seiont Manor Hotel, in Llanrug.
UPDATE: Dumbleton Properties Ltd is also the owner of Fronolau, near Dolgellau, the other Williams’ Gwynedd property. The 5-bed house next to the former restaurant – renamed ‘Mountain View’ – can be rented for £3,000 a week in August. There are also plans for the restaurant.
UPDATE 08.03.2022: Last November I received a Twitter DM from a Conservative Party councillor in Leicestershire (and it’s not often I can say that either!). It seems he is the new owner of the house just referred to, ‘Mountain View’.
He asked me to remove references to his new property from this article, which I might have done had it not been for that offensive name. He also informed me: ‘ . . . the former hotel is nearing completion into 6 separate units for sale as holiday apartments. The work undertaken appears to have been done to a high standard’.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t; but it certainly appears that the work was done without planning permission.
All the shares for these four companies are held by Dragon Investments, which means, indirectly, David Russell. And all four have taken out loans with Together Commercial Finance, which took such a hit with Paul and Rowena Williams.
I wonder if the Seiont Manor staff ever got paid?
So, the picture for Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor is that they are now owned by David Russell of Manchester, apparently operating through his proxy, David Paul Savage.
And why be surprised? For if we go back to the County Court judgement handed down in Caernarfon in May 14 last year we see David Russell mentioned.
Making it clear that he’d been involved for some time.
UPDATE 08.03.2022: Sad news; Plas Glynllifon was broken into, as this report from the Daily Post (o4.03.2022) tells us). It breaks my heart, it do, to think of criminals wandering around Plas Glynllifon. Whatever next!
◊
WHAT GOES AROUND . . .
Weep for Wales started off with a couple of scammers upsetting people in Powys and landing in Gwynedd.
They were succeeded at Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor by Disley, Cunliffe and their associates; with their continental property deals, and the companies claiming links to the Middle East, and the Far East.
This eventually connected with some shady Danes – this despite the gang being such devoted Brexiteers! (Scroll down to the section Myles Cunliffe et al.)
And through those and other Danes we end up in Cambrian Terrace, Garndolbenmaen.
The curtain rises on the next act and it looks promising, for already we have been misled as to who actually owns Plas Glynllifon and Seiont Manor.
So take your seats, ladies and gentlemen.
◊
THOUGHTS
Wales is up Shit Creek.
On the one hand, we have Unionist politicians supporting anything that strengthens England’s hold over us; be that holiday homes, economic exploitation or outright colonisation.
On the other hand, we have the ‘progressive’ consensus in Corruption Bay that is entirely different . . . but, er, supports exactly the same things, and then puts body into their meat-free cawl with pressing concerns such as women with penises.
What does this have to do with what you’ve been reading about?
What I’ve been writing about, in this piece and so many others, could only happen in a dysfunctional country where a Vichy political class has divorced itself entirely from the material concerns and necessities of the people they claim to serve.
A country in which con men are welcomed as ‘investors’ by politicians who are nothing but floaters in the lavatory bowl of Welsh politics. A country ‘served’ by a media so supine and useless that these bastards – crooks and politicians! – get a free ride.
A country groaning under the burden of a Corruption Bay elite that doesn’t care what happens to us and our communities – just as long as they can continue enjoying their pointless, parasitical existence.
A pox on them all! Every last one of them; the useless, lying bastards.
♦ end ♦
Looks like the new owner of the mansion is Christopher Nedic https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09214192/officers as someone that has dealings with him before I would be very wary, google him and his family!
Wow an interesting character. If he’s keeping his business model it looks like he’ll make it into a caravan park.
Can’t see that happening, but still worth watching.
Had a google like you said and yes he looks like another chancer but also looks like he bought another reminisce of the “Empire” https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/business/consumer/northumberland-country-pub-faces-permanent-closure-as-change-of-use-plan-lodged-3093604
So the Kam Babaee of K10 Developments featured on million pound houses didn’t go through with the purchase of plas Glynllifon? Such a shame it’s such a beautiful Mansion. Have a Google on Kam allegedly he pleaded poverty in court so that he didn’t have to pay his Wife child maintenance.
More of the Williams empire up for sale
https://www.colliers.com/en-gb/properties/for-sale-newly-converted-self-catering-complex-dolgellau-gwynedd/gbr-tabor-dolgellau/gbr3022965?dm_i=631I%2CNGM9%2CRCDDR%2C2WG3D%2C1
Jac, scanning through your valid posts, I spotted Dumbleton, this rang a bell as being a Williams property, so after checking the companies house beta bit, Dumbleton Properties, director of,… checking other companies he has, shows, Ledwyche LTD, look into the charge on it and most of the Williams empire shows up, also on the Polvellan company, charges are similar if not the same!
One loan / mortgage could cover a number of properties owned by the same company or individual.
The tweet about glynllifon and the you tube video sparked my interest again and thought I would have a look at any planning permission, looks like the one for seiont and the one in cornwall have both been withdrawn? so it seems they also are going to lay empty for a long time
I walked my dog few weeks ago around glynllifon, there was a guy watching over the place & staying in a caravan, he bolted up to me & my 10yr old son shouting at us to leave! reminded him about the boundaries/land he then phoned someone in a panick, he was acting rather strange! i asked him if he was the new security working for david Russell & he said yes, there’s some strange goings on down there, i will continue to walk my dog and report any findings 😉
I’d be grateful if you could both keep me informed.
Another YouTube video on plas but with the nee owners and the plans to turn it into apartments apparently
https://youtu.be/RLPTn_Pmlmk
Not sure if the link will work bu just search for it on you tube is not
Not the most tech person LOL
That link is to a bunch of ghost hunters. (I think that’s what they are.)
Just watched it and it does show the new owner though they are blurred out but does seem that someone new has it! maybe someone local can go and have a look?
It was a different bloke few weeks ago, something strange is going on as the second you get spotted they pounce on you! ill pop down for a walk later on today.
Who’s ‘they’?
Looks like there is some work being done with cctv https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=507890298005108&set=pcb.507891388004999
Looks like its not going well with planning here also this was from the meeting 29/06/22
48 NP5/58/ENF205K May 2021 Fronolau Hotel,
Dolgellau
External Alterations
and Creation of Six
Self-Contained
Residential Units
Retrospective planning application
submitted for the external
alterations to the hotel which has
been refused.
It has become apparent the hotel
building has been sub-divided into
6 separate units. Contact made
with the owner and their agent and
a Planning Contravention Notice
has been served and responses
received.
An Enforcement Notice was served
on the 26th January 2022 for the
material change in use of the land
from a C1 use as a hotel to a C3
use, and operational development
consisting of external alterations to
create six individual self-contained
residential units comprising two 3
bedroom cottages and four 3
bedroom flats. The requirements to
comply with the Notice state to
revert the use of the Land to C1 –
hotel use.
An Enforcement Notice
Appeal has been lodged
and currently await a
start date from PEDW
(Planning and
Environment Decisions
Wales).
https://snowdonia.gov.wales/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Planning-Access-Committee_29.06.22.pdf
I can’t get that planning reference number to fit.
You were right about the property in cornwall its been put on the market recently
https://www.colliers.com/en-gb/properties/for-sale-development-potential-stpp-polvellan-manor-cornwall/gbr-the-millpool-looe/gbr3022715
Also congratulations to Noel jordan some very odd pics from his wedding
https://www.facebook.com/noel.jordan.73
looks like one of my face book friends does not like me ,they are using my name to make strange coments.weding photos only available to a few friends on face book .i got you now
Not sure I understand, but as long as one of us does.
im the real noel the other is an imposter.we had words in welsh also i invited you to the open day if you remember.you should not allow coments from imposters on here .this should have been well behind me now as i live in tenerive now
More TV exposure tonight! must be nearing WFW 20 NOW
Drew Pritchard Architectural Antiques
We’ve only got next week’s episode of SH to go for this run – but we’ll be back later in the year…… concentrating on tonight we head to Newcastle where we pay a visit to an experienced dealer with a great eye and a showroom packed full of the kind of furniture I love. Our next invite is much closer to home as I’ve been given exclusive access to buy from a stately home in Caernarfon called Plas Glynllifon in North Wales. It’s one of Wales’ grandest houses but has sadly been neglected over the years. Nevertheless there are still gems to be found! Our final stop is at an antiques shop in the Midlands that’s packed to rafters with an unusual and eclectic mix of stock including not one, but two incredibly large stuffed leather animals which I think are from Liberty of London. So if you’re free at 9pm, tune into Quest with a brew or a glass for another tour around the UK and more of T’s jokes….. stay safe, stay well. Dx 🧔🧔🇺🇦🏴🇬🇧
Hi, I know nothing about you but I used to do this kind of work at my paper in Canada. I know you reference grandkids at the top, so you’re probably a retired reporter or investigator. But I just thought I’d write a note of appreciation for your exemplary paper pulling. If I was still a city editor and hiring reporters, I’d have tried to lure you across the pond. Cheers.
No, I’m not a reporter, just a nosy devil who detests liars and hypocrites and knows how to dig out and present evidence. Thanks for your kind words.
Cheers Jac, very impressive. Someone posted a link to this in the Guardian and I suggested they hire you!
If you enjoy Companies House search stories (or title registries, as we’d call it in Canada) I highly suggest digging into government auditor reports. We have an “auditor general” at the provincial and federal level here and I imagine you have the same. Media outlets tend to be severely understaffed and paid these days, and they miss much of what is important in favor of spot news/tragedy o’ the day stuff, so it’s a good source.
Used to visit Wales for Holidays at Shell Island when I was a boy in England in the Seventies; trying to convince my wife to consider it for a retirement spot. We shall see!
Cheers again.
Hi. it is a great piece of work. I would like to know though where the billionaire house programme on C5 fits into this story. It featured another buyer. Any thoughts
I’ll have to watch it again carefully. (I didn’t even catch the name of the new owner.) But the guy posing as the owner, David Savage, merely fronts for the real owner, David Russell.
With Plas Glynllifon, things are rarely what they seem. Maybe never.
Good work on Glynllifon, the place means so much to me & it breaks my heart seeing a bunch of fraudsters pushing it further into ruin!! I had my suspicion since day dot regarding this new owner & seeing a video on youtube just confirms my fears! One clip especially got me thinking… The lads are in a room full of antiques & amazing artefacts, but it’s the A4 paper sellotaped to the wall saying how much lead/materials etc that’s been used on the building is what they highlighted & discussed, the lads even showed how easy it is to get into the place! This to me is suspicious!! I’d love to know if any insurances have been taken out lately but seeing that it’s still full of the previous owners belongings inc the statues they apparently paid £’ssss one would assume that the place is already fully insured, or i could be completely wrong and its just an invitation for squatters which i suppose could be quite handy to postpone any repossessions perhaps??? I know one thing something stinks there🙁
Going back to glynllifon, could it be a coincidence that i predicted a burglary a few months back? And for thinking that the explorers youtube video was simply “documenting” it’s contents & highlighting it’s open windows etc? I smell a rat!! AGAIN😲
I’ve put it out on Twitter.
Great work Jac
Like buses! Channel 4 tonight
Britain’s Most Expensive Houses (C4, 9pm)
Arabella Weir narrates this absorbing series in which cameras follow the staff of luxury estate agency UK Sotheby’s International Realty. It kicks off as brokers John and Mary view a £30 million mega mansion in Windsor, on behalf of a French Moroccan socialite who can’t travel due to Covid-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, Shereen mentors junior broker Leena on a surprisingly tricky search for her buyer, Harley Street clinician Anastasia, who has £5 million burning a hole in her pocket for a London property. Plus, MD of UK Sotheby’s Realty,Guy Bradshaw, is on the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales, where he spent his childhood summer holidays, to view Plas Glynllifon, a Grade I-listed mansion in urgent need of some TLC.
Will the Gruesome Twosome appear?
They did not. No explanation was given for the state the property was left it (I believe, I may have missed it whilst grabbing a cup of tea).
I came across your article after trying to find out how much the property finally sold for – it was a fascinating read!
I just wanted to add – i did a land registry and believe the property was sold for £1.5m to COWM Top Properties Ltd (which Dragon Investments have a significant control in).
The guy in last night’s programme, David Savage, fronts for David Russell, the real owner. Now, perhaps, he’s the former owner. But Russell is definitely the guy who bought Plas Glynllifon from Paul and Rowena Williams.
I’m fairly sure the £1.5m figure quoted by the Land Registry covers Seiont Manor. The title document for Seiont Manor also quotes £1.5m. In fact, Russell, through assorted companies seems to own most of the old Williams portfolio.
And through one of those companies, again fronted by David Savage, Russell owns the property just over the border where the stars of the show are said to be hiding out.
This purchase, like the others, was made with loans from Together Commercial Finance Ltd. Paul and Rowena Williams owed Together a lot of money, so maybe a deal was done between the three parties that saw Russell take on the Williams’ debts. Everybody wins!
The plot thickens… thanks for info
Myles Cunliffe is nothing but a bankrupt piece of shit
Didn’t previous owners auction off it’s contents? Even the way the contents were displayed looked suspicious to me, i emailed owner & the agents to inform them of these explorers & that trouble will follow, received nothing back, since then i noticed the front window was opened a bit & left like that for weeks, I wonder if those youtubers was asked to go there, this new developer’s been niggling me, ive hear of this guy before, but i cant for the life of me remember 😕
Wonder if you get a mention onthis Jac?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012lnq
If you cannot wait till sunday I would recommend this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfoaYQiU17Y
Jac’s tweet asks – will this lead to a register of lobbyists ? I say you must be fuckin’ joking! This is the lobbyists wet dream come true. They now have their 2 compliant parties kissing each others’ arses in public and expecting us to believe that it’s going to be so good for Wales. Swallow that and you’ll believe anything even some of the bilge coming from Boris and Co. We are being taken for a ride as there remains years of this regime in power before the next chance to dump them. Welsh Labour won’t cut itself off from the London H.Q. Tories are wedded to Tory Central and LibDems are … just LimpDems ! Yet Plaid Cymru sees some advantage in a marriage of convenience with Labour, more like connivance in my opinion as it gives an illusion of power and influence and may help prolong the salaries and conditions these wasters enjoy in the Bay. A most serious betrayal of the voters who backed them.
Off topic. While the BBC is having orgasms over global warming they appear to have missed a very important piece of news that so far has been limited to the financial press and energy industry journals. It relates to the ‘feed-in-tariff’. This is the subsidy scheme run by Ofgem. Cash is collected off energy suppliers who have in turn already creamed the said amount off domestic electricity bills. The scheme then uses this cash to pays the subsidy to small scale renewable energy generators.
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/personal-finance/2021/11/19/energy-market-updates/
This fund is already in default by £575,000 this month, and five energy companies missed the 10th November deadline for payment. Ofgem has told the suppliers to pay what they owe immediately or face enforcement action that could include financial penalties or stripping them of their licences. This will involve more energy companies going into liquidation, there have already been 17 of the smaller energy suppliers gone bust this autumn. The only solution will be if the government steps in and abolishes the green levy on electricity bills, or pays the subsidy directly to small scale renewable energy generators from general taxation.
As you say, a notable oversight by the “entirely objective” BBC. In their unstinting efforts to be inclusive and so in tune with anything remotely wokish they have excluded any mention of the feed in tariff scam. This is just another part of the huge transfer of wealth that is being facilitated by UK and other globalist governments who are now so far in bed with large corporates and financial institutions that they will find it impossible to disengage. The climate change crisis is real, that is my opinion, but like so many other challenges the main responses have been hijacked by corporate opportunists and their peculiar political bed fellows. All facilitated by government. So it is highly unlikely that any government will act as you suggest, or if they do they will contrive to create another channel for sucking out money from ordinary citizens and divert it into corporate coffers.
Way off topic – Out yesterday morning and met a few vets from recent conflicts in which Britain had no right to get involved. That said, these guys were rank and file guys who did their job and were glad to get out in ( mostly) one piece but some lasting damage of the mental health kind.
Imagine my horror to read that the wanker Bliar had the nerve to be present at the Cenotaph, the man who has been responsible for the biggest run of bad decisions in the history of UK aggression since 1945 and set the tone for the moron Cameron’s antics in Syria and Lybia. This is a man who deserves to be shipped off to Afghanistan so that the Taliban can deal with him as they see fit. That said I suspect Bliar might just try to sell them one of his overpriced “advice and consultancy packages” on the cheap in an attempt to get off the chopping block.
Blair was bad enough, but one who always made my skin crawl =was that oily fucker, Mandelson. Some people tried to make him more cuddly by calling him ‘Mandy’. It didn’t work.
I always assumed that to be a manifestation of thinly-veiled 90’s casual tabloid homophobia, conferring on him as a soubriquet a woman’s name.
I’d assumed that was his nickname in the party.
Jac’s tweet asks – “How far to the left is the National ?” I say it’s more appropriate to ask how far up its own arse is the National, an increasingly fash-fixated echochamber for people who prefer to create their own imaginary crises rather than confront the real disasters that challenge us.
It’s Huw Marshall’s baby and he was very supportive of the YesCymru takeover.
Sounds like a guy who regularly forgets to take his meds. Just checked and find that he’s spent most of his time in media related activities which explains how he finds it easy to concoct an alternative reality and get absorbed by it.
To be honest, I’d never heard of the guy until he launched a totally unprovoked Twitter attack on me.
You should be more concerned if he started getting friendly ! I recall seeing some of his rubbish when he was on the fringe of the loony pirate takeover at Yes Cymru and judging by some of that there aren’t many sanity awards in his trophy cupboard.
Their interview with Stephen Morris was spotted with barely-concealed snide, as I recall. “Morris, who lives in Shropshire”, “Morris, who learnt Welsh as a teenager”, strategically placed as though to undermine preceding quotes from Stephen.
The best ironic comment on twitter was that made by the rabid Leena a Lib Dem woman who screams racist and transphobe at every shadow that moves. SHE writes for the paper, thus undermining the paper’s credibility totally along with Huw Marshall of course.
The National also published that interview with the insane Sophie Price-Jones who thinks she’d like to be a man and tweets as ‘Emrysius’. Sophie – I’m ‘deadnaming’ here – was even allowed to name Dilys Davies – even though YC was supposedly looking into the allegations made against Dilys.
Jac Your tweet is entirely wrong about the upcoming Bond film, where our hero starts as a male, then acquires a taste for dressing up in frocks and calling himself a “gal”or”lady”. He gets arrested and locked up for violence at a demo, and while inside successfully appeals against getting sent to Parc Prison Sarn. Quickly gets transferred to a women’s prison as he’s now called Jane, despite presence of dick and absence of cervix, – and embarks on a new trail of rape and the odd bit of consensual sex in his new environment. Film’s working title is “Brave New World”
Chronology would suggest that the most likely purpose of Rasmussens Boligudlejning Ltd was as a vehicle to rent out a property in Denmark that is/was owned by Klaus Garde Nielsen. We know that Klaus fled Denmark at that time due to litigation for fraud. Poul Erik Rasmussen is an elderly pensioner, takes up residence, gives his name to the company, probably occupies the property on a lease-purchase arrangement. Jasper being the gofer who’s originally set it up, and it would keep the only real wealth Klaus has in Denmark away from the authorities. Geoffrey Michael Pugh gives us the registered address in Gwynedd, the guy who lives in social housing who probably has friends in low places and performed the role of bookkeeper.
Klaus – the fleeing fraudster.
Jasper – the gofer, fall guy in Denmark.
Poul – the handy pensioner who cannot be evicted.
Geoffrey – bookkeeper.
Klaus Garde Nielsen has the same MO as Myles Cunliffe, that of an ‘undertaker’. A form of fraud where a struggling company is acquired that’s about to go bankrupt. His investment is a phantom, gets a bank loan on inflated assets, quickly sells those assets and then, when the company folds, nothing left for the taxman or the bank to recover. The key to solving this mystery, mirrored as in all the other undertaker companies, one of which now involves the Plas, is what is what is the nature of fixed asset in the balance sheet and how was it paid for. Geoffrey, the bookkeeper, would have no doubt perform the same role for all other pies that Klaus had a finger in, which would include Germany, Sweden, and Norway.
Can’t wait for the next series of Craith. It’ll start with Jacs’ body being found in the cellar of Plas Glynllifon with Cadi and Vaughan flying off to Aarhus.
That’s a cheery thought!
Joking apart I’m quite surprised that no-one connected to these sagas has disappeared into some foundations or big concrete pillars. The types of person who seem to flit in and out of these histories seem to be of either the Class A perp material or otherwise Class A victim stock. Jac could feature not as victim but as a Columbo-esque uptown Penlan geezer with faded mac and classic inquisitive manner.
Idea is probably too radical for S4C/BBC creatives who can’t accommodate the idea that someone could be content to live on the West coast and all the bad guys and gals come in “from away”.
And such prog might be interpreted as ‘knocking tourism’, and that would never do.
When S4C was independent they could enter into a contract with a production company so that any ‘overseas earnings’ was banked in Wales. Now that S4C has been handed over to the BBC the earnings are now banked by BBC World, and I doubt if any profits find their way back to Wales. It’s not just about talent and skewing content to a BBC London brief but about finances too. It’s the way colonialism works. I have friends in Ireland and Sweden who are big fans of Y Gwyll and Craith but to watch it with English subtitles they have to subscribe to the BBC.
Great post Jac. I have been looking forward to this. I first encountered you through the Weep for Wales blogs and they’ve kept me hooked. I can’t believe that major financial institutions fall for these scams but they do. I have much less sympathy for them than the local tradesmen etc who are out of pocket to these crooks.
The Nat West Bank relied on valuations supplied by a close associate of Paul and Rowena Williams who had the right credentials. It was a mistake, but an understandable one. What I find less easy to understand is why an ‘alternative lender’, in this case, Together, would also lend them money. It makes me wonder how this alternative market operates.
Relative poverty to the rest of this island, an inept, gullible, soft-touch administration, and a sneering, superior, colonialist mindset: the three essential components for the lure that attracts these parasites from ‘Up East’. Is that a fair assessment?
Plus a complaisant media that accepts and repeats whatever these buggers say.
Poor Neil is down two hundred and seventy pounds, zero pence, zero tenths of a pence. Egad!
Pardon?
A misplaced decimal point in the attached PDF of his comment. On that basis alone you wouldn’t want these people seeing to anything involving substantial sums of money!
I can’t see the misplaced decimal point.
Where the comma would normally be on the 170,000 and 100,000.
I believe that’s how it’s done on the Continent. They don’t use a comma.
True, the use of comma and full stop is swapped over. Bit of a howler to drop in to any English correspondence though.
I think he’s lived in Spain for many years.
Many thanks Jac an very intersting update I have also got a keen interst so have been keeping an eye out also!
some interesting links that might you might be interested in
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3890951
https://thpt.co.uk/property-alliance-group-affiliate-confirmed-as-new-buyer-for-seiont-manor-hotel-wales/ (Read to the bottom!)
https://www.onthemarket.com/details/11116948/
What a convenient bankruptcy! But it only applies to Paul.
One of the petitioners, Paul Simmons, has two companies, the older of which wasn’t launched until September 2018. By which time Williams was on the way out. The other petitioner is building consultancy Mace.
As for Fronoleu, there’s a 5-bed house nearby, where Tom Hindle lived. Maybe he still lives there. I don’t see that house mentioned.
No one lives there but you can rent it £3000 for a week in august
https://snowdoniaholidaycottages.co/cottage-details/fronoleu-house-mountainview
It’s now owned by Dumbleton Properties, which is ultimately owned by David Russell.
Jac
Paul Williams owes me over £200k hence me taking him to court & making him bankrupt. By all
means feel free to get in touch with me & we can discuss things & I can share the latest information with you
Paul Simmons
Will do.
Jac
That would be great.
Regards
Paul
Good. You’ll hear from me later today.
Yes very interesting comment at the bottom of the link stating ” That property is still for sale, for which THPT have details.” which shows there is no plan to restore like the article states on the DP, my opinion is the planning for seiont is granted and then put on the market like the other properties will be as well, I would also place a bet on the williams gang are still involved
That article dated May 1. Things have moved on.
Was at Glynllifon last week . The council have started to improve the park and have moved all the fencing that was around the mansion to a lot nearer the house . They have also discovered old buildings and new hidden paths which they are opening up , well worth a visit ,
Don’t tell me Paul Williams was trying to push out his boundaries? Why didn’t the council notice before now?
Jac , seems who owns what at Glynlifon is worth a look at – the council – the agricultural college – The mansion and what land goes with it, and the 2 cottages either side of the entrance .
Ownership has always been unclear. The only title that mentions the big house says it is owned by the Coleg.
The only title I found in the name of Paul Williams is for ‘land adjoining’. But it now has a new owner. The new owner is David Russell. The £1.5m refers to a number of Williams properties Russell bought.
Your use of the expression ‘lavatory bowl’ is an unfair comparison with what plumbers call the Principal Pedestal, which is a blameless installation designed to dispose of honest waste matter hygienically and efficiently.
You’re absolutely right. I can only hope that the plumbers of Wales forgive me.
I think you are right. The lavatory bowl is an accurate description that is easily understood by the public. Plumbers are a specialist breed in the community and they will have no issues with the choice of terminology. My favourite, which I’ve used on many occasions, is “circling the plughole” a phrase that is just about right when writing about Plaid and Yes Cymru. Of course individual tvrds within those parties are best sent down the bowl but sadly many of them seem to pop back up ! A more robust flushing mechanism is needed but may be banned by the Bay clique on some obscure grounds to do with the environment.
Where is Rikki now? https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/7738545.man-on-trial-for-rape-was-set-up/
A good question. I’d also like to know.
He is running the restaurant at the imperial hotel in Tenby I was told
Everybody ends up in Tenby.
Rikki Reynolds has indeed surfaced in Tenby,
https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/19588614.pembrokeshire-hotel-bounces-back-strongly-pandemic-almost-closed/
as general manager of The Imperial Hotel overlooking South Beach.
Makes me wonder who owns the Imperial. Will check later.
The Imperial is owned by Jewel Hotels Trustees 1 Ltd of Jersey. It was leased to Shearings, but Shearings Hotels Ltd and WA Shearings Group Ltd (both named on the title doc) have gone bust.
Is Jewel Hotels running it themselves? Has Jewel Hotels sold it? Found a new lessee?
(Right click and open in separate tab to read it.)
You will see on TripAdvisor the reviews. Quite a few each month, except between March 2020 and May 2021. This gap is evidently the Covid year and when Shearings went bust. We see the first entry for 2021 announce with the comment “New Ownership”, and probably a review by a regular. The hotel previously specialised in the blue rinse elderly coach breaks. Subsequent reviews then tell us of the sorry state of the establishment and one in particular comments on the ‘awful manager’. We’ve seen this pattern before.
If it has been leased again, then the Land Registry has not been informed. Or the documents are not yet available. But if Rikki Reynolds is involved then it’s worth making enquiries.
Pure coincidence, I’m sure, but Gavin Woodhouse, of Afan Valley Adventure Resort fame, had a presence in Dinbych y Pysgod. But he’s out of the game and awaiting trial.
Dinbych y Pysgod must be a good place for likes of Gavin and Rikki to engage in something fishy ?
There are so many fly-by-nights and transient ‘businessmen’ in a place like Tenby that it must be difficult keeping track. And yet you can bet that a journo would fall back on that overused cliche, ‘close-knit’, as if Tenby was an Aran sweater or a Mafia-controlled town in Sicily.
He got off with it.
The testimony to the court proceedings does, however, give us an insight into the thinking of the man involved. We see Rikki tell the court she “began flirting before enjoying the one-night stand” and then go on to say “she was very willing, she hadn’t had sex for months.” No doubt there will be many occasions when a manager of a nightclub has the opportunity to offer a drunk woman “a bed for the night”. The professional answer to that dilemma is “taxi” not “my place”. As always, to prosecute a rape claim when an alleged victim is drunk will be difficult. It is necessary to ascertain whether the intercourse was or was not consensual.
No personal experience of such crimes but reading accounts of numerous cases it seems that the perp has to use some violence with some visible marking ( easy evidence) before the victim has any chance of getting a case to stick. Old Bill still has an aversion unless it’s a classic “open & shut”. Odds stacked heavily against victim. Now if rape was reclassified as “hate crime” you’d see a marked change in Old Bill’s motivation and sense of urgency.
At the end of the day to gain a conviction you need evidence. An accuser making an accusation is not evidence. Evidence of sexual relations is not evidence of rape.
Rape is a crime and must be dealt with the same way as all crime. The evidence threshold must be the same.