Who had a share of the missing £40 million ?

preface

Last year my brother Colin called me as was driving home from a meeting near Oxford. Colin told me he had pancreatic cancer and wanted me to know. I gave him my best wishes and hoped he would recover and get well again.

Unfortunately Colin passed away on 2^nd April this year.

Did not mention to Col of course but myself and others had just completed a full account of what happened all those years ago just before receiving this call.

With the knowledge he was so ill put all our findings under wraps but we have now decided to let all know what happened to our truly great group of companies.

introduction

Our close family have never put these shocking events out of their minds.

My solicitor of 15 years Richard Kennett managing partner of a substantial London firm, my personal qualified accountant and tax advisor Keith Rodgers of our then auditors of 20 years plus my brother. They appeared to all conspire together with the biggest bank in the world Citibank and their receivers who are now KPMG to take over my business.

The £40 million abruptly taken via a receivership from our Rosser Group was a net figure after allowing for all borrowings viz Citibank £5.9 million clearly paid in full and other small borrowings which had been settled and these outstandings around £25,000 were also paid off. A few tiny amounts were not paid by the receivers apparently deliberately to give local creditors the feeling that my group deserved to go into receivership despite having £40 million spare !

An incredible situation and my attempts to sue these conspirators was thwarted by these characters falsely claiming a bankruptcy order against me when the net value of the business was worth so many £millions.

These conspirators ruined all that we had worked for since 1963 ie over 23 years during which time we had put together by April 1986 our very profitable group of companies.

It has taken many years to unravel how these transgressors’ actions, supported by receivers smuggled into our group without our knowledge, cost us the group. A group of companies producing £3 million net a year a very sound operation yet it went into receivership and ever since have been endeavouring to unravel the damage that had been caused.

background

At the start of our business after qualifying as a chartered engineer at what is now Brookes University, Oxford I took out agencies with several insurance companies and from there started several estate agencies at Oxford, Abingdon Witney, Banbury and Swindon. Alongside these estate agencies we carried out mortgage and insurance agencies in the name of Metcalfe Insurance brokers.

During the course and after some of these operations had been set up brother Colin then came on board further to his time at Southampton Uni.

The agencies brought us into dealings with a builder who operated from Eynsham near Oxford. Eventually we bought his offices as he wanted to retire. From this set up we started our own development company Techomes Ltd. We started with a 5 unit development at Headington, Oxford and soon we were building other developments at North Leigh near Witney , Oxon with 20 detached bungalows and then a near 200 house development at Carterton again close to Witney.

With all the housing expansion we decided that brother Colin would run the agencies and I would concentrate on the developments. With big money required in fits and starts with developments I thought we should set up an additional business that provided a continual cash flow. We then started the first free newspaper in the UK the Oxford Journal and bought a printing operation which we eventually called Goodhead Press named after the previous owner. I then persuaded Colin to run the printer operations and decided to sell off the estate agencies and insurance brokerages.

Free Newspapers Ltd started and purchased at one time 18 or so newspapers in many areas of the country. From Hull, Sheffield in the north, Cardiff, Bristol in the west, London in the east and Brighton in the south. During this expansion our other member of the group Techomes Ltd was very successful and producing profits most years of £1m a year from 1980. The newspapers provided approximately £1 million per annum profits and Goodhead printing mainly benefitting from our Free Newspapers Group newspapers also £1 million a year.

Richard Kennett was our group’s solicitor since 1971, someone I thought wrongly I could trust. Sadly that trust was greatly misplaced.

the demerger

Colin had pleaded with me to let him have Goodhead Press away from our group for several years. The eventual what proved to be suspect demerger of Goodhead from the Techomes Group was handled by Kennett as he insisted that only he could do this separation and pledged that he would be fully even handed between Colin and I - I didn’t trust Kennett but I did trust Colin then and the pair of them eventually trussed me up like a kipper over that agreement.

Kennett assured that he would act for Colin and me fairly in the arrangement for Colin to take over Goodhead in which Colin begged me for several years to give him control which I trusted him to carry out with integrity. I signed the demerger document on the understanding that Kennett would insert the major changes I had insisted upon – but these promised changes never happened.

How wrong I was to let Colin get anywhere near control of Goodhead. Goodhead was a company I bought from Roger Goodhead to print the Oxford Journal. However in the early years after passing day to day management of Goodhead Press to Colin and he did well. He brought Goodhead through to be a successful operation but mainly with the substantial help of the Freenewspapers Group print contracts [ printing 10 weekly free newspapers many similar in size to the Oxford Journal ]. This was prior to Colin and Kennett’s questionable intention of ‘floating their own new free newspaper on AIM stock market‘. This aim was never a sensible or viable proposition and after questioning Colin and Kennett I asked them where were they getting their free newspapers from and they replied ‘ We will buy them ‘ They went on to offer us £300,000 for The Sheffield Journal a very low offer which was rejected.

The Goodhead demerger document contained a figure of £750K as a debt that Goodhead was owed by the Sunday Journal the national free newspaper we closed down after only two years trading. OK, Freenewspapers Ltd as guarantor to the Sunday Journal owed Goodhead that money but I controlled both operations before the point where Goodhead was demerged and I made it a condition of the demerger that the £750K was never to be used in any action between me or my company or Goodhead.

However Kennett, who should have been severely censured for what he did and it was with Colin’s full knowledge, would later use this Sunday Journal debt of £750K against me ie personally. This was a corporate debt against a company and an individual should not be sued in bankruptcy. The £750K credit to Goodhead was there as a cosmetic value in the Goodhead stockmarket launch (it made Goodhead look artificially good to investors but it was never to be used in any transactions between Colin and I). Basically the freezing of this debt was part of the demerger deal. Using it against me was contrary to the conditions in the demerger document which I had insisted upon and which was included in the demerger document and Kennett ensured to hold back as he promised. But they did use it to put me in bankruptcy primarily to stop me suing Colin and Kennett for their actions.

This behaviour from a solicitor who was acting for me and had done for 15 years and supposedly in an even handed way in the transaction. This move by Colin and Kennett cost our family our home, the valuable Ham which was sold for £6.5 million (July 2013). Its current value much more.

When we started our own Free News Print in 1984 (formed as we had considerable trouble from the Goodhead unions with Goodhead using low quality newsprint missing deadlines and generally being unreliable) things got very desperate for Goodhead.

As not only had Goodhead lost the print contract of the Freenewspapers Group which was very valuable to them, a contract charged at way over the top prices it should be noted which we just about tolerated. Goodhead was also losing printing jobs we secured for Free News Print which they might otherwise have obtained. The Free News Print company was flourishing and Goodhead were rightly very concerned. Kennett in an unguarded moment told me that was the trigger why Colin and him went on a path to successfully destroy my group to Colin’s benefit. My own solicitor admitting he was instrumental in helping to destroy a company for which he was solicitor is unbelieveable but this is what Kennett said.

This was shocking enough but looking back I didn’t believe this as I’m sure Kennett was planning this action way before we formed FNPrint our own printworks . The action of receivership that secured for Colin , Kennett, Rodgers [ Techomes, Oxford City FC auditor I’d sacked him from Freenewspapers and should have fired him from the lot ], Citibank, Peat Marwick and as a result they and others gained £millions.

the aldoworld gambit

Going back to before the receivership but after the Goodhead demerger from my group it seems clear now Kennett was manoeuvring a position to get my Group [ who he was advising do not forget ! ] set up to go into receivership.

Not anticipating what Kennett proposed [ he was my solicitor ! ] that I agreed for Colin to take over the funding of a Techomes Ltd site for 6 shops and 19 flats in the centre of Bristol to help Colin’s launch.

The site was funded by BAII [ one of 6 Techomes Ltd’s construction funders ]and the development was nearing completion with sales of the finished properties just commencing, and our development group moved to help and to make Colin’s AIM listing look better. Kennett convinced me that Techomes’ profits would not be affected. Colin took over the debt from BAII. Kennett advised me that the profits when the units sold could be fed back to Techomes Ltd on an arrangement.

On the pretence of making it look even better Kennett put the debt in the form of a debenture calling it the Aldoworld debenture without me realising the significance of this move if we had trouble. However the group was very sound as it had been for the past 8 years. Also of course there was a very strong land bank which had been built up over several years Techomes Ltd had made profits of £1 million a year for most of the last 8 years and could see no problems looming. This was my own solicitor asking for my assistance in helping my brother gain credence with the stock market and Kennett assured me was safe for my group.

Kennett, who was acting for me and ‘protecting my position’ please remember !! also wove into this debenture a power of attorney of which I was not aware. It transpired this document was very important but at the time I could not see this great importance Kennett was my lawyer and if there was a danger he would have underlined it which he didn’t of course.

This was a move to help Colin who, with Goodhead being a printer, stood little chance of getting anywhere near a good listing [ frankly looking back this was strikingly clear ] and at the time did not seem significant as our overall group less Goodhead position was very strong and there was no semblance of any adverse happenings in the offing. The newspapers alone were worth £15 million. The land bank and other securities another £34 million.

Kennett’s and Colin’s actions in the end cost us the company with a net value of £40 million after payment of all charges. Citibank and KPMG [ Peat’s ] then got their control over our landbank of £34 million which was plundered when sold off for a fraction of the landbank’s true value. All Techomes Ltd ‘s interest and other charges were paid by the individual companies and we intended soon to sell parts of Techomes Ltd land bank to rid ourselves of the worrying Citibank and their charges.

the AIM listing

The signing of the receivership papers by me was strange and I must have at the time been unable to get my thinking straight. 9 months or so earlier Kennett had said to me could I help Colin with his Stock Market launch which I agreed to do. Colin was planning on going to the AIM market, and he could do with extra assets as his offering was a bit in fact very thin [ it lacked the necessary assets and a progressive profit maker ]. Kennett asked if I could help Colin so that he could take over the funding for one of our 6 construction sites to make it look good for Colin in front of AIM investors.

At this time I did ask Kennett what was Colin going to the AIM market for as Colin did not have the right armoury for the job as Goodhead did not own newspapers and their operation was only that of a bog standard printer. His reply was unconvincing and I hung up.

It was always clear that it was Kennet’s need to help Colin that led to the Aldoworld debenture. What is now clear is that by the time he was drawing it up, Kennet’s position had, at his own insistence, become too compromised The debenture, and the power of attorney that he included with it which was never authorised by me and clearly were designed to serve only Colin’s interests, and could operate very much at my own expense. This from a solicitor that promised to be even handed. !!

One significant concern in April ’85 was that Citibank accountants were baffled by Kennett and were concerned that he was proposing that Freenews Group should have a zero valuation of Freenewspapers’ titles and Citibank and ourselves were worrying as to what this Kennett fellow was up to. Kennett said that he was preparing the ground for Goodhead to float alongside Freenewspapers Ltd. Looking back this was a farcical proposal from an experienced senior lawyer. This proposal he made was to assist Freenewspapers Ltd tax position he claimed was a very strange and illogical statement. Kennett my solicitor was unable to explain his very dubious moves. As he was my solicitor the thought of Kennett and Colin stealing Free Newspapers Ltd and their highly valued titles did not register at this time but all the pair’s odd moves on reflection added up to that happening.

However, now looking back at events , the worrying Kennett clearly appeared to have a plan to put Rosser Group into receivership and then for the pair of them to buy my newspaper titles from the receiver at a huge undervalue.

This would give the Goodhead Communications an impressive start value on the AIM market a commencing value of [ £15 million less what Colin would buy Freenewspapers Ltd titles from the receivers eventually £3.26 million ] of £12 million plus stolen from Rosser Group and Colin/ Kennett and others would be well rewarded and this would lead to Goodhead Communications having a huge start value ].It was a grossly shocking action which Kennett, Colin and Co would obtain exceptional profits. Thankfully these unlawful moves were sussed by the market who unceremoniously stopped these actions and Goodhead Communications were stopped in their tracks.

It was 25 July ’85 when Colin and Kennett floated Goodhead Communications on the AIM stock market when this happened. The Daily Mail hailed Colin Rosser as the Freenewspaper King and Colin didn’t own one decent freenewspaper for 8 months after they launched in July ’85 a huge matter and clearly unlawful. It was surprising that the AIM agent offering Goodhead Communications to the AIM market went along with this and answers must be given. Citibank, Peat’s [ KPMG ], Rodgers had already shown their hand.

Of course the Kennett / Colin plot re the Goodhead Communications AIM bid was revealed when after 8 months during which unlawfully claiming they owned my 10 free newspapers but did not they then apparently combined with Citibank – see below – to put my group wrongly into receivership. The first move by Colin was to buy up all my 10 free newspapers for £3.26 million from the receivers when they were valued at £15 million before receivership. A really shocking state of affairs but the fact that Goodhead had run the AIM market campaign falsely claiming ownership of the titles through their agents when they did not was exposed at receivership and the Goodhead Communications launch on the market was put into chaos. The price of the shares collapsed and Goodhead Communications never recovered.

All this deceit and unlawful actions were punctured when the market realised what Kennett, Colin had tried to deceive the AIM market. The launch was in a sorry state and Kennett who appeared to be the master mind had put Goodhead Communications into a bad state. Colin has never really recovered from this stupid unlawful action by solicitor Kennett. How did the managing partner of a substantial firm of London solicitors think that he could get away with this incredible plot to steal my group and make £millions.

The fact that Kennett/ Colin launched on the AIM market and then for 8 months continued to state that Colin owned my newspapers when he didn’t was an out and out shocker. This particularly as Colin’s then Goodhead didn’t even print them. With all that had happened we had by then started our own printworks known as Free News Print Ltd, built, installed and operated from a property Techomes Ltd owned on a commercial site at Oakfield, Eynsham.

Investors and the market generally were misled and it is remarkable that the financial markets didn’t come down on Colin and Kennett like ‘a ton of bricks’. What were the accountancy / launching firm doing acting and floating Goodhead Communications as they then called themselves re their launch stating that GC owned Free Newspapers Ltd’s publications when they did not? Kennett a lawyer with many years experience acting in this cavalier manner beggars belief.

receivership

When I told Kennett [ OUR LAWYER !! ] we had received receivership papers he said we couldn’t reject them as we had signed a debenture to Colin which enabled Colin to demand through the Aldoworld debenture and the accompanying power of attorney the receivership. This from a solicitor who was supposed to look after my interests and he had deliberately put me in a position where I couldn’t stop the receivership due to the Aldoworld power of attorney.

I can hear his words now ‘ Tony you can do nothing you signed that debenture that gave Colin a power of attorney ‘Kennett I said you know I signed that charge for Colin to assist his AIM launch and you made it into a debenture which was to assist Colin in his AIM listing. Kennett you are supposed to be acting for me !

You pledged before we got into negotiations to split Goodhead off from the group you promised faithfully to act even handed in the dealings and now you come up with this. The line was silent – this said it all.

Further to this terrible situation sometime later I checked my papers and realised as Kennett had stealthily obtained the construction finance for the Techomes Ltd site in centre of Bristol development for Colin from our construction funder BAII but due to the sales the site had moved on. The developed properties had gone forward quite a way and the 19 flats and 6 shops re this debenture had been mainly sold making the debenture more or less worthless as no monies were left owing on the debenture. There was no chance me thinking along those lines when the receivership happened with pressures all around me. My own brother and a solicitor who had pledged to act for me. Not good.

How Colin could have sat in his office that night knowing what he and his fellow conspirators had done just defeats me. What a brother. Marion our sister was shocked when she learned of Colin’s and Kennett’s grim work but tended to shy away from the gravity of it all and could hardly believe it.

Some further background when Citibank loaned us a £500,000 extension to our £5.4 million loan [ this happened after the demerger ] they insisted that they put 2 accountants into our group for a while to ensure our cash flow was OK. When these so called accountants arrived our chief accountant took me to one side and said he had worked with these two ‘ accountants’ on a job with his previous firm and he was adamant the pair were receivers not accountants.

Within a month or so Citibank’s vice president Ellison insisted that we dispensed with our chief accountant as they said that he was not up to the job of a large multi company operation and regrettably we were forced to part with Citibank’s insistence with the chief accountant. Our chief accountant had been with us for several years and had been excellent but Citibank insisted in calling the shots and said our accounts chief had to go. Such an error as it left me with the remaining staff who were personnel unused to top jobs. The ‘receiver accountants’ did not report to me but direct to Citibank. This left me in a vulnerable position.

We were within our limits yet Citibank reported to me that we were insolvent. They stated that the figures reported to Citibank for free newspapers showed we did not have sufficient monies for our needs and I was shocked and asked Citibank how could that possibly be as our then 10 newspapers who were providing a £1 + million per year net profit was a constant cash provider and Citibank’s logic did not add up. What we didn’t know was that the figures reported to Citibank by their own representatives in our offices were providing figures which were way below what was happening. [ it appears that these insufficient February figures were clearly and it would appear deliberately wrong ] See statements in following paragraphs.

In court later on in events regarding the Ham our home and the receivership generally in the courtroom it was confirmed in front of Master Turner against Peat's [ the receivers ] that these receivers withholding of the much better March figures [ even these March figures were way under what they should have been but were still nearly 3 times the average per month presented by Citibank re February and basis of calling the receivership ]. However, the March figures were not revealed until after we'd signed the receivership papers. Master Turner appeared fully aware of the dubious antics of the receivers.

See following -

The figures for Freenewspapers according to these so called ‘ accountants from Citibank ‘ for 6 months from September to the February prior to receivership averaged at £32,678 per month which was grossly untrue.

Please see the huge difference between the 2 sets of figures provided by the Citibank accountants in our offices – these ‘accountants ‘ were really from Peats [ KPMG ] receivers we subsequently discovered. The following were the figures for September '85 to February '86:

Detail
Oxford Journal	£15,549
Chiltern Newspapers Group	£8,594
The Banbury Cake	£183
Sheffield Journal	£7,841
South/Cent Oxon Guardian	£2,161
Free News Print	-
Quarterback	-
Total average per month Sept – Feb	£32,678
Total average per month Sept – Feb £32,678 These are the incredible figures average profit per month shown by [ Citibank accountants !! ] - receivers £32,678 and these were the figures on which the receivership was claimed The figures shown by the same receivers AFTER receivership papers signed and for March only were as follows
Oxford Journal	£35,916
Chiltern Newspapers Group	£20,269
The Banbury Cake	£3,493
Sheffield Journal	£5,455
South/Cent Oxon Guardian	£7,760
Total without Quarterback and FreenewsPrint £72893 an increase of 123% on the September – February figures of £32,678 on which the receivership was called and called without any reference to Techomes Ltd annual profits of £1 million per year.
Free News Print	£11,156
Quarterback	£7,406
Total profit for Freenewspapers March '86 only	£72,893

Profit per month for 1985 from established accounts £119,416 the end of year figure for 1985 endorsed by Arthur Andersen Citibank’s auditors [ not including Quarterback and FreenewsPrint Ltd ]

A dramatic difference and these figures ending February 1986 £32,678 were £86,738 less than the average for the whole of Freenewspapers for 1985 Arthur Andersen figures of £119,416

From Citibank’s own accountants Arthur Andersen & Co the following was provided re Freenewspapers Ltd profits for 1984 – 5 without FreenewsPrint’s input.Total profit for Freenewspapers Ltd for 1984-85 £1,433.000

Oxford Journal £670,000 net profit per annum average £55,833 per month
Chiltern Newspapers [ High Wycombe Observer – Amersham & Chesham Times – Marlow Times - Henley Times – Thame and Risborough Times – Aylesbury Times ] £374,000 net profit £31,166 per month
Banbury Cake - £123,000 net profit £10,250 per month
South Oxfordshire Guardian- £60,000 net profit £5,000 per month
Sheffield Journal - £88,000 net profit £7,333 per month
Quarterback £ 118,000 net profit [ full conservative estimate ] £9,833 per month

TOTAL £1,433,000 net profit [ £119,416 per month ] for Free Newspapers Ltd for year ending 31 August 1985 a value if sold in normal conditions the Freenewspaper titles were worth £15 million.

On the day we received receivership papers we received our usual daily take at our offices of £69,000 or so and I should have kicked Vice president Ellison and his 2 lawyers out of my office. A few hours after the receivership papers were signed we had an offer for all our newspapers of £7.5 million from the same source that purchased our Bristol Journal for £1.5 million 8 months earlier. Citibank’s Vice President said he’s sorry but it is’ 2 minutes too late ‘! That one offer would have paid off Citibank in one payment. The whole thing was staged and our £40 million assets went out the back door.

Oxford City FC

Further to the receivership of the group there was a series of manoeuvres over Oxford City FC by Colin and Rodgers [Oxford City FC certified accountant auditor] who bought the whole of Oxford City FC assets for £26,000 from the receiver. They were very astute and the moves they carried out foxed everyone.

I’m referring now to things like the valuable nuisance value lease in OCFC Ltd’s books at £600,000 which the club owned on behalf of the Rosser Group. However Rodgers and Colin must have reasoned that to get OCFC off their ground they would have to close the club and then they could do a deal with Brasenose College and receive a large payment for the lease the club owned to enable Brasenose College to sell the ground for development and free of the football club. The value of the ground as development land would have been in the region of £6 million it is considered. However despite the receivership the club were still playing matches on the ground.

Rodgers and Colin then decided to start 2 businesses and run these concerns at the club and in doing so contravene the terms of the lease and then Brasenose College could get the football club off the ground.

However in doing so the pair of them had to placate supporters of the club. So after the college ordered the football club off the ground for running businesses at the ground Rodgers and Colin obtained the services of a barrister to fight the college for the eviction of the club in an action which was bogus. This move gave every appearance of being an effort to convince supporters Colin and Rodgers were trying to keep the club at the White House ground which was not what this pair wanted. It should be noted that Oxford City FC were already running 7 businesses from the club prior to receivership. The appeal by the dodgy pair as Colin and Rodgers had aimed for was defeated in the court and the football club was consequently deemed to be in breach of the lease terms and the club removed from their ground and the club was in fact closed. Brasenose College were then free after paying Colin and Rodgers £1million approx for the lease to sell the ground site to developers. It should be noted that the football club had another 15 years of the lease to run.

Whoever thought of the court sham had a very keen mind as it fooled the club, the supporters and others? It foxed everybody when it happened but then the penny dropped. The court case was all show, there was no need for the club to lose the ground. Rodgers & Co wanted to fool the club’s supporters that the club had businesses at the ground and because of that contravening of the lease so the club had to leave the ground and surrender the lease to the college.

To give some background for the previous seven years which Brasenose obviously were familiar with and knew all about Rosser Group’s businesses at the club and had agreed in some cases contractually with the group’s businesses being at the ground. These businesses owned by the group which owned City Leisure Group and a company called Netbury Ltd which was located at the White House, City's ground. Oxford City FC was in turn owned by Oxford City FC Ltd, Quarterback an American football magazine owned by Freenewspapers Ltd was also operated from there, the group’s holiday company Suntravel and then there was The Folly Pub via a lease owned by the group with Brasenose College itself. The Folly Pub previously known as The White House had been established at the ground over many years.

Brasenose certainly knew all about the businesses being run from the ground they had documentation proving it 7 years from October 1979 prior to the ground eviction action. The whole legal procedure of getting Oxford City FC off the ground via Rodgers’ companies was a sham. This illustrates clearly the sort of manoeuvres that Rodgers [ our group auditor!! ] Kennett were up to which were very much against the interests of Oxford City FC.

In fairness The Rosser Group were negotiating with Brasenose College prior to receivership to organise another ground for the club and for the college to buy the new football ground for OCFC Ltd’s ownership and when built for the club to move off the OCFC football ground and then for Techomes Ltd to develop the city football ground ourselves .

Basically Brasenose College would pay for the new ground for OCFC and Techomes Ltd would develop the existing ground after payment of a market value sum for the land, paid to Brasenose College. Rodgers knew all about this of course being Techomes Ltd’s and OCFC Ltd auditors but we were not aware of the scheme Rodgers and the others’ duplicity of course.

We were confident that our development company would obtain many £millions from this development and Oxford City Ltd would then own its own ground.

Rodgers being our Techomes Ltd’s accountant, auditor and my personal tax advisor knew all about the nuisance value re the lease and the £600,000 value on the Oxford City balance sheet [ which Rodgers audited ] Colin and Rodgers had it all planned. Perhaps it was in retaliation by Rodgers of being sacked from handling Free Newspapers Ltd’s accounts however in hindsight he should have been fired from everything.

Rodgers being the club’s qualified auditor / as was Colin a group director were basically legally barred from benefitting from a receivership of our group. Rodgers then when the receivership happened arranged for Suntravel to be taken over by others which also was operated from Oxford City FC. We also understand that Rodgers has since this has happened scuttled off to Australia to Melbourne.

Quarterback, our American Football magazine, operated from Oxford City FC, received an offer of £1.5million before receivership. This publication had been in operation from scratch for less than a year. A publication that was sold by receivers for £4,000 and we had an offer in our hands for £1.5 million

Then of course before the Brasenose / City matter Colin and Rodgers had an agreement with Pegasus Properties to pay Rodgers and Colin it is believed around £1 million for the lease. See ownerships for the facilities re receipts of this money in Citi Sports [ Oxford ] Ltd Rodgers’ company. Pegasus went to Brasenose College saying they had the lease which gave the college vacant possession and then had the power to sell the ground with vacant possession to Pegasus for development.

This land the club’s old playing pitch steeped in the club’s history and probably the most valuable building site in Oxford (situated only a few hundred yards from the centre) sold to Pegasus.

I approached Rodgers after the receivership in the directors’ box at Oxford United one Saturday which was empty apart from him and his wife. He said nothing when I challenged him and just turned away, he looked pathetic and his wife lowered her head in her shoulders.

It took me a short while after the receivership was carried out to realize what had happened but Rodgers purchased a very nice property in Boars Hill approaching a £1 million in value which was bought just after the deal with Pegasus went through. [ the beneficiaries re the lease sale are mentioned at Companies House see Citi Sports [ Oxford ] Ltd.]

I am really disappointed that my brother could do what he did but is my brother and despite everything I still care and am concerned about him but we’re far from finished yet.

disposing of the other assets

The Quarterback publication was bought for £4,000 from the receivers. This a publication which at the time was selling 100,000 copies a week at 50p a time. £50,000 a week gross prior to wholesale costs. Advertising revenue was extra at around £10,000 a week. We increased the copy price to £1 from 50p a month or two prior to the receivership. How the receivers could sell off Quarterback like they did defeats me. We had an offer of £1.5 million forwarded to us for the publication just prior to receivership. Everything that happened with the receivership was staggering.

Then there is the property re the Eynsham head offices worth £2+ million plus 20 acres of building land behind the offices , the Free News Print factory and offices 20,000 sq feet premises and a then very successful printing company plus other commercial units at Oakfield Business Park built and owned by Techomes Ltd , the scores of ransom strips carefully put together on land developed by Techomes Ltd and possibly worth several £million but sold by the receivers for £100,000 to Tom Dodds-Noble.

This sale to Dodds – Noble also included 20 acres of Techomes Ltd land situated directly behind the head office building which was being prepared for planning and on which Wimpey Homes eventually built 175 homes and valued at receivership at £5 million [ this was never mentioned in the receivers statements a site worth £5 million just bundled off to Tom Dodds- Noble without even a mention in the receivers' accounts ].

The Rooksbury Mill 20 acre trout fishery at Andover which included 20 housing plots of building land plus other houses and flats, the 19 flat and 6 shop development near completion at the centre of Bristol which Colin got his colleague Ray Dennis to finally complete after receivership a site which Kennett pleaded with me and subsequently transferred to Colin to assist Goodhead’s launch on the AIM stockmarket a launching on the AIM market that Kennett managed to ‘ screw up completely ‘

The several unsold flats at Harbour Watch at Sandbanks, now regarded as one of the better developments in the area. Cherry’s and my penthouse on the top of that Sandbanks development which was sold by me following the receivership to pay bills. This property is now currently worth approx £3 million.

The Rooksbury Mill site at Andover is another situation. The site started off as a mink farm when purchased it from a wartime SS Nazi Mr Kopp with the River Anton running through its grounds. There was a 5 acre site which we didn’t want to develop so we sold it to Barratt Homes prior to 1986 and they built 50 plus homes on the lands.

We ran the fishery as Rooksbury Mill Trout Fishery and even the Olympic team used to fly fish there. The whole complex, lakes, 6 houses, the mill, were owned by Cherry and myself personally as general partners in a limited partnership with Freenewspapers Ltd . When the receivership went through the receivers mis sold the site in the name of Techomes Ltd [ not any mention of Freenewspapers Ltd ] without any consultation with Cherry and I the real owners.

This sale was completely illegal but Peat Marwick went through with it. No action was taken against them as I did not have the money to do so. The new owner of Rooksbury fell into difficulties and wanted to recoup his outlay but when he came to do so the property’s title did not meet the sale requirements of course. The “owner” fell into hard times and the Test Valley Council stepped in and purchased the site and took over the property and sold off the units that were not occupied and sold some of the land to a builder and turned the overall project into a nature reserve as it is to this day. Cherry and I still own that site as far as we can tell.

A few years ago son Rob and myself called at Rooksbury Mill and I asked a few questions of a resident on the estate as to what had gone on. Within a few minutes we were surrounded by what must have been all the owners on the Rooksbury Mill Estate appearing very concerned at our presence. We’d already walked round as it was a nature reserve and seen the expensive properties that had been built there but they clearly wanted us to leave which we did in the end.

It showed to me how suspect the title they held of their property as owners on Rooksbury Mill Estate really was. Perhaps these owners and the Test Valley Council should be interviewed to assess what really went on. After all this site of 20 acres less the sold Barratt 5 acres at Andover belongs to Cherry and myself.

However one of the largest disappearances of course was the 30 acres of building land at Curbridge Road, Witney. We bought the site for £65,000 from farmer Ralph Jefferies and with planning permission gained at the time of the receivership and including the access to further facility and additional land beyond was worth around £14 million. The receivers sold it to Bovis Homes for £1.25 million. As soon as this land had been purchased from the receivers it was sold to Westbury Homes .These incredible monies were lost to our group when the receivership was triggered.

There is a lot more that could be said of the receivership but the follow up by this altogether dodgy crew of receivers was equally if not worse. Their first move was to raze our excellent head office and car parks to the ground and sold for house building for 15 or so houses. This was a particularly emotional and I would estimate not a clever financial move by the receivers. Of course they had already sold the 20 acres of land directly behind our offices on which Wimpey Homes built 175 houses for £100.000 to Dodds – Noble their actions were totally unreal.

It leaves the thought that Kennett and Colin got rid of our history so that there would be a tendency to forget our whole existence. If the offices had stayed it would have been some sort of symbol of what had been achieved by our group. Hopefully Colin is totally ashamed as for Kennett I just wonder what his emotions are.

The sale of all of our free newspapers to Colin for £3.26 million at receivership certainly tells the story !! It would appear that he fell short of properly dealing with our excellent publications when endeavouring to manage the papers and ended up selling them and due to the poor performance the titles in Colin’s stewardship he lost all he gained.

All our large land bank lost to receivers that could not believe their luck and the ever grasping Citibank vice presidents who our judge at a preliminary hearing had called fraudulent. Colin and Kennett just blew our superb land position out of the water subsequent to their actions. Rodgers the Oxford City FC auditor and Colin pocketed a £1 million taken from Oxford City FC over the land development all in place for Techomes Ltd to build and produce large profits and the list goes on.

a quest for justice

After many attempts after receivership we set out to get solicitors we could trust and who were able enough to manage our case.. We found that solicitors tended to shy away from acting for situations like we were in as the might of the types of Citibank’s legal representation tended to be formidable and the fact that this disingenuous lot had stripped us of most of our monies didn’t help.

Due to this we ended up with a lawyer who was not able to fill the demands our case placed on him. There was one advantage however as I got to know another ex client of this lawyer: a chartered accountant Danny O’Doherty. He and I had several talks regarding my case. Danny was decidedly disenchanted with this lawyer who was ‘acting’ for us both and offered to finance us for fees with £20,000 for a 20% share of the proceeds and the use of a suitable lawyer.

So we looked around for a new solicitor to go for Kennett, Citibank , Peat Marwick [ soon to be KPMG ] and Colin. There weren’t many takers to fight the biggest bank in the world plus possibly the largest receivers but I eventually obtained a proper respected solicitor in Bill Stockler who reviewed my case (but of course he wanted to be paid and this was quite a case).

Bill Stockler a reputable and respected lawyer from the City sat down with me and said that he had handled big cases but this case of ours we were seeing such a huge matter in front of us that could have serious consequences for the solicitors’ indemnity fund. Danny was so encouraged by the way Stockler was attacking he raised his monies substantially to £60,000 as Bill Stockler was soon into action and the target was the Law Society’s Solicitors Indemnity Fund. He assured me that this was where the big monies were and would tend to be more sympathetic to our situation.

In a court hearing before Master Turner re Citibank’s claim on our home The Ham. Re Freenewspapers Ltd / Cherry and I [ owner of the The Ham’s Limited Partnership ] it was explained that Citibank had acted re the receivership on the Freenewspapers’ February figures but the March figures were much better but even then nowhere near their true value as shown in the previously stated figures; and no reference had been made to Techomes Ltd’s large land bank. Citibank's QC. Waller insisted that we had seen the latest March accounts ten days before the receivership; but at Master Turner's invitation we strongly denied this.

The Master made the point emphatically about the much better March ’86 figures and our barrister kept going till lunchtime. Master Turner made some heavy comments, which were accepted by Mr Waller.

Thankfully Master Turner saw through the Kennett / Colin presentation and came up with the following summary and he made the following rulings:

• the receivers had been negligent or worse;
• Ellison Citibank’s vice president had most probably been fraudulent;
• Citibank had improperly interfered in the receivership process;
• there was a dark and heavy cloud of suspicion over the activities of Richard Kennett and Colin Rosser
• Colin Rosser's intimate knowledge of Tony Rosser's affairs had played a crucial role in all that had happened.

His final conclusion was that everything should go to a full trial; he gave me and my wife Cherry unconditional leave to defend Citibank's summary action against us without having to pay anything into court in advance. This a clear indication that we had an extremely strong case.

justice thwarted

Colin ,Kennett Citibank and Peat Marwick [ who immediately after the receivership changed their name of ownership to being part of the KPMG Group ] had left me little money and I had to support my family which had to be a priority.

All of this after this incredible and shocking receivership I started new businesses to get going again but Citibank’s vice president Robert Ellison seemed determined to stop us. We had started a new publication called Bargains Plus but Ellison contacted our printers and tried unsuccessfully to stop the printer producing our magazine. With all the problems of setting up a new business Citibank appeared petrified that we would rise again.

Further to meetings with Stockler the Danny monies were evaporating he had put up big monies by then and Danny then apologised profusely but said he could go no further. Stockler said he was very happy to continue on legal aid . Legal Aid turned us down but Bill Stockler said the LA could see they would be picking up a bill from Stockler and a big bill in defending Kennett and the solicitor we had used earlier and parted with. Bill Stockler never liked Kennett and he had major reservations about him. He thought our previous solicitor couldn’t be real.

However out of the blue after listening to Stockler, a real solicitor with ability, and appreciating his progress in the case Citibank rang via Clifford Chance and said they would like to talk and settle and offered me £1 million in equity in the Ham. This was some sort of relief but the money was in the Ham.

However, out of the blue Kennett came along with a bankruptcy order for a bogus £1 million from the Goodhead demerger document which was agreed should never be used against me and also unsuitable as it was a corporate debt in a bankruptcy action. The bankruptcy order was in the name of guess who Colin Rosser. This stopped any payment to me and Colin and Kennett had pulled yet another illegal defence.

Not a great happening but it probably showed that Kennett was petrified of action against the pair.

Ultimately this shameful lot had organised by worrying means my bankruptcy to stop me suing them. They actually made me bankrupt incredibly using false data helped of course by the Kennett treachery. Despite all this my family carried on and my two sons [ Rob and Dave ] and son in law helped our fledgling company bring some sort of stability to our lives.

conclusions

Kennett and Rodgers [ our part group auditor ] must have been planning what Kennett did on the 26th April 1986 from just after the demerger of Goodhead in 1983 and perhaps before, and frankly their actions, and Colin and I know how huge it was, proved incredibly successful for Colin [ temporarily ] and the others.

There is no doubt in my mind that together Colin and I could have had a highly successful group . I must say I never realized how intensely Colin’s feelings must have been or desperate he was to act like he did. He ruined us and our very supportive family with his and Kennett’s actions .I must say the way they messed up my assets (the 10 newspaper titles and the printing company FNP) which Colin bought from the receivers for £3.26 million when they were worth £15 million overall speaks for itself How in the end did Colin manage to run them all into the ground when Colin got them from me through the receiver?

When I see the Banbury Cake now in the clutches of the Oxford Mail our long term rival it really does make me wince. For Colin to sell the Oxford Journal to Bob Urwin a fellow I brought through from nowhere [ he was a rep for the Oxford Mail ] to manage our Oxford Journal. Urwin removed substantial documentation from us when he left us and set up a rival publication to the Oxford Journal but corrected by police action resulting in a substantial payment from Urwin to our group shows they had no shame.

Colin got his comeuppance of course when Sir John Madjeski booted Colin out of Goodhead when Goodhead became part of Madjeski’s group after Colin had already blown the advantages of our assets, and Goodhead were in financial danger.

When Colin took over the papers it is clear he was lacking as to how he operated the free papers. All that seemed to happen when it was realised he was unable to cope with my papers he sold them. The whole thing was sickening to me and selling the Banbury Cake to the Oxford Mail group was particularly grim. However Madjeski who Colin combined with after the Goodhead stockmarket disaster soon figured out Colin was not able to deal with the marketing of free newspapers. We had won the national award for the best in design and content for free newspapers in the UK for 10 years on the trot and Madjeski must have been disappointed in how my newspapers fared. Understand credit control and ideas were in very short supply but perhaps there was guilt perhaps not.

Thanks to Colin and Kennett we lost our great home the Ham and all its facilities and we had to get a home together and sort out a business. Despite Colin’s and Kennett’s efforts we now have progressed in business but everything has been hard going. Although older am still doing a full day.

Sorry Col I know you are in poor health but the foregoing I had to provide to put the record straight.

Tony.