Jane Catherine Bernadette Goodfellow (56), from Yeovil, Somerset, has received a second ban lasting 12 years and at the same time Clare Louise Watts (51), also from Yeovil, was banned for 5 years for allowing Jane Goodfellow to run the café and acting as a stooge director.
The company at the centre of the Insolvency Service investigation was The Yeovil Wine Vaults Limited, which traded as a licensed restaurant in Yeovil known as the Wine Vaults.
Yeovil Wine Vaults as a company was incorporated in October 2013 with Clare Watts appointed the sole director. However, the restaurant entered into liquidation not even four years later in March 2017 after it could not pay its debts.
Liquidators appointed to wind up Yeovil Wine Vaults reported to the Insolvency Service concerns about the company and following further enquiries, investigators were able to establish that although Clare Watts was the registered director, Jane Goodfellow was the person running the show.
Jane Goodfellow, also known by various other names including James, Murphy and Goodchild, was the person dealing with regulators, the local authority, employees and suppliers.
However, she should not have been running the restaurant as Jane Goodfellow was already subject to an 11-year disqualification order handed down by the courts in March 2006. This was in connection with her conduct as a director of Peaceflight Limited, a printing company.
Both Clare Watts and Jane Goodfellow worked together at Peaceflight Limited and by allowing Jane Goodfellow to run the restaurant, Clare Watts acted as a stooge director, complicit in her former colleague's breach of a disqualification order.
Further investigations also established that both Jane Goodfellow and Clare Watts failed to ensure Yeovil Wine Vaults filed annual returns, while also being remiss in paying tax or filing tax returns throughout the company's entire trading period.
On 22 February 2019, the Secretary of State accepted disqualification undertakings from both Jane Goodfellow and Clare Watts regarding their conduct as directors of Yeovil Wine Vaults, with their bans coming into effect from 15 March 2019.
Dave Elliott, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:
When Jane Goodfellow appeared in court more than 10 years ago, she would have been made fully aware by the judge that she was explicitly banned from acting in the management of a company. But Jane Goodfellow thought she could get round her disqualification when she got her former colleague to act as a stooge director, leaving her to run the restaurant as she pleased.
However, as the restaurant collapsed their misdemeanours came to light, resulting in significant bans for the both of them. This result should make it very clear to disqualified directors who ignore their bans and continue to act as directors, as well as those who assist them, that they will be vigorously pursued by the Insolvency Service.
Notes
Jane Catherine Bernadette Goodfellow (aka James, aka Murphy, aka Goodchild) is of Somerset and her date of birth is 07/03/1952.
Clare Louise Watts is of Somerset and her date of birth is 16/05/1967
The Yeovil Wine Vaults Limited (Company Reg no. 08752877).
A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:
- act as a director of a company
- take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
- be a receiver of a company's property
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.
Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
