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Dominic Chappell: "I wish to God I never got involved in BHS"

Lauretta Roberts
14 December 2018

Dominic Chappell declared in court today that he wished "to God that I never got involved" in BHS, the department store chain he famously acquired from Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group for £1 back in 2015 and which collapsed a year later.

Chappell was appearing at Hove Crown Court, where he was handed a £124,000 fine for breaching pensions law. BHS was folded a year after Chappell bought it leaving 11,000 out of a job and a £571,000 black hole in its pension fund.

After he was called to account for himself in front of MPs Sir Philip said he was planning to "sort" the problem of the pension fund and later agreed to pay £350m of his own money to partly plug the hole.

In an emotional address after his sentencing Chappell, a former bankrupt, fired a broadside at Green saying: “In 2015 when I bought BHS I relied heavily on the undertakings Philip Green, a Knight of the Realm, a billionaire and a high street guru.”

He added that he himself was a "victim of the circumstances" surrounding the collapse of the retailer. "I'm not a Philip Green sitting on a £100m yacht in the south of France who writes a cheque for £350m to make the problem go away," he said.

Chappell had previously been fined more than £87,000 and had appealed but lost that battle in September. He was in court today for re-sentencing where he represented himself. He was accused of failing to hand over vital information to the Pensions Regulator, which had been working to safeguard the interests of the retailer's 19,000 pension holders.

Sir Philip had faced calls to be stripped of his knighthood for his role in the collapse of BHS, but thus far no action has been taken. He also avoided a directorship ban from the Insolvency Service, which revealed its decision in March. Green went on to say that selling BHS to Chappell was the "worst mistake of my life".

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