What links the two pictures below? In a word “debt”
On the left is a picture of the Marshalsea, immortalised in Dickens’s “Little Dorrit”. It housed a variety of prisoners and became infamous for its incarceration of London’s debtors Over half the population of England’s prisons in the 18th century were in jail because of debt.
On the right we have the Grand, famous for all sorts of reasons, but at present a perverse form of infamy for the shelter and support it provides to the Stainers, Michael and Doris (pictured), former bankrupts of this parish.
How lucky we are that we no longer confine our bankrupts to debtor’s prison. We no longer strip them of their assets. We permit them to fraternise with the great and the good of our community and seize photo opportunities, gate-crash events and even nominate our members of parliament.
What an enlightened age…………………….. whoooah!!! Hold your horses!
Let’s roll back this discussion and consider the facts of the matter from the perspective of those who are owed money. Not all creditors are vultures demanding their pound of flesh, but ordinary people struggling to meet their bills to keep their roofs over their heads. Some are local tradespeople – butchers, bakers and candlestick makers…. And don’t forget our local hospitals, schools and care-homes whose very existence depends on everyone of us paying their taxes.
These are the real victims of the Stainer bankruptcies.
The eighteen flats that made up their holiday let “empire” should have been repossessed as these were the principal known asset of the Stainers. Their combined value would be around £1 million, less the outstanding mortgages, even allowing for the “missing” flat located in Keppels.
The income from these flats, estimated to be around £350,000 should have been diverted to meet their debt.
Any investigations into misconduct before and during bankruptcy as directors should have been concluded and reports passed on to the appropriate authorities for possible criminal proceedings.
Proceeding for possible disqualification as directors considered and proceeded with.
And finally, creditors should have been paid out all, or part of what they are owed.
What has happened?
Nothing, zilch, tiddly squat, bugger all………
The eighteen flats continue to be enjoyed by unwitting visitors, clairvoyants, honeymooning couples and for all we know, Lord Lucan.
The income from these flats flows on, and on and ends up who knows where……managed of course by Robert Richardson
Any investigations????? Certainly no outcomes.
Disqualification? Not a whisper.
Who ran all these activities during this bankruptcy process? Michael Stainer of course, and according to him, doing so at the behest of the Official Receiver!
Who “fronted” up for this? ‘Robert Moss’……. The mysterious puppet director who has repeatedly refused to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations. According to the Government’s website this include checking someone’s ID with reference to:
A photograph on an official document which confirms their identity
Proof of residential address and date of birth
Just for the record, Michael Stainer was a co-proposer of Damian Collins’s nomination as a candidate for MP…………
We have spoken with creditors of Michael Stainer and they have lost all confidence in the insolvency process and its practitioners. They are equally unimpressed after a group of them met with Damian Collins to express their concerns only to see him photographed arm in arm with Stainer the very next day, and then to see Stainer as a co-proposer of Collins’s nomination. They were reported to be standing side by side handing out election literature in Folkestone on Saturday 23rd Nov 2019.
No surprise then that some view the good old days of the Marshalsea with a touch of nostalgia. So let us finish with an image of Little Dorrit and her father, known as the “Father of the Marshalsea”, incarcerated for 23 years for debt.
