Jodie Annabel Fairbrother (40), from Immingham, Lincolnshire, was the former owner of a boarding kennels in South Killingholme. The business traded from Janika Boarding Kennels under the name '4Paws' and provided animal transport, boarding kennels and a veterinary clinic.
In March 2018, 4Paws was subject to visits from the RSPCA and the police over animal welfare concerns. Over 100 animals were removed and Jodie Fairbrother later closed the business before applying for bankruptcy in November 2018.
Having been previously bankrupt in 2005, Jodie Fairbrother would have been aware that she was required to inform the Official Receiver about any assets she owned, including property. However, she failed to declare that she jointly owned the boarding kennels 4Paws had been trading from.
Following a tip-off, the Official Receiver later confirmed that Jodie Fairbrother jointly owned the property. But throughout the investigation, the former business-owner denied she was the property's owner and claimed instead she was a tenant even after being shown copies of the land registry.
Further investigations discovered that a month before she applied to be bankrupt, Jodie Fairbrother sold her stake in the property in October 2018 and had received thousands of pounds in return.
The Secretary of State has since accepted a bankruptcy restrictions' undertaking from Jodie Annabel Fairbrother where she voluntarily accepted she failed to declare the property owned to the Official Receiver.
The bankruptcy restrictions, effective from 28 March 2019, last for 7 years and prohibit Jodie Fairbrother from several activities, including acting as a director of a company without permission from the court and attempting to borrow more than £500 without declaring restrictions they are subject to.
Gerard O'Hare, Official Receiver, said:
This case has seen a litany of offences carried out by Jodie Fairbrother and then she thought she could hide assets preventing her creditors from receiving the money they are rightfully owed.
Seven years of extended bankruptcy restrictions is a significant ban and not only seriously confines Jodie Fairbrother's conduct going forward but should also act as a warning to those who attempt to defraud their creditors by hiding their assets.
Notes
Jodie Annabel Fairbrother is of Immingham and her date of birth is September 1978.
Details of Jodie Fairbrother's BRU is available on the Individual Insolvency Register
Information on bankruptcy and the restrictions concerned are available on GOV.UK.
The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
