Bankrupt furniture maker sentenced for acting as director
Stockport furniture boss banned for 8 years after declaring bankruptcy before starting new company with prohibited name.
Allan Kenneth Barke (34), of Stockport, appeared at Chester Crown Court before HHJ Everett on 1 April where he was banned from acting as a company director for 8 years.
The court heard that Allan Barke had been director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited from its incorporation in November 2014 until September 2015.
The furniture company traded until April 2016 when it was wound up and went into voluntary liquidation.
Cheshire Fitted Furniture’s liquidation, however, triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which found that Allan Barke had been declared bankrupt in September 2015 following a petition by the liquidators of AB Joinery (Stockport) Limited, a previous company he was director of.
As part of his bankruptcy, Allan Barke was banned from acting as a company director and after Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited went into liquidation, the furniture maker was not allowed to form a company with a similar name.
The investigation, however, found Allan Barke had breached his restrictions when it was uncovered in June 2016, the furniture maker was trading under a company using the name CFF Joinery & Furniture, a name prohibited under the terms of the liquidation.
He had also continued to act as sole director for the new company, CFF Joinery & Furniture, after being declared bankrupt, the court heard.
Allan Barke was charged with one count of acting as the director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited when he was disqualified from doing so due to bankruptcy and one count of continuing to use a proscribed company name after the business entered liquidation in April 2016.
He pleaded guilty to both counts at Stockport Magistrates Court in January 2021. He was also given a 22 month prison sentence suspended for 2 years for a further 22 fraud offences separate following an investigation by Cheshire Police.
The 8-year ban means he cannot directly or indirectly become involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
Julie Barnes, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Allan Barke would have known he was banned from running a company, especially one with a similar sounding name to the company wound-up. The furniture maker, however, flagrantly breached his ban when he started a new company offering similar services.
Throughout our investigation and the court process, Allan Barke has been uncooperative but this ban handed down by the court will remove him from the business environment for a significant period.
Notes to editors
Allan Kenneth Barke is of Stockport and his date of birth is May 1986.
Company: Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited (CFFL), company number 09323944.
The sentence result was announced at Chester Crown Court by Judge Everett.
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.
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