Oliver Shah
DAMAGED GOODS
The Inside Story of Sir Philip Green, the Collapse of BHS and the Death of the High Street
6. DREAMS COME TRUE
Before this book went to print, Greens lawyers wrote to reiterate that he was awarded his honour for services to the retail industry, not for his charitable work, that he had never desired an honour of any kind, and that the decision to knight him was made independently by the honours and appointments secretariat at the Cabinet Office. In fairness, many of his retail achievements had long pre-dated the cash-for-honours scandal of 2006 and 2007, and Green was not implicated in it.
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First published 2018
Copyright Oliver Shah, 2018
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-241-34126-1
For Henry Hector, Melissa Tarrant, George Vallossian and all the sources who made this story possible
A word of thanks
With special thanks to Toby Mundy, my agent; Lydia Yadi, my editor at Penguin Random House; Eric Musgrave, for his painstaking archive research; Pia Sarma and the legal team at the Sunday Times, for all their help with the original BHS stories; and to Judi Bevan, John Jay and Richard Hyman, for their forensic reading of the draft manuscript.
The protagonists
The following descriptions indicate the positions occupied by the main characters, some of whom have since moved on or retired, at the time of the events set out in this book. They also include any titles held at the time of writing, although some of these were not awarded until after the events described, and so are not used in the text.
Ros Altmann | Pensions minister |
Mike Ashley | Founder of Sports Direct |
Ted Ball | Founder of Landhurst Leasing |
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay | Backers of Sir Philip Greens takeover bid for Sears |
David Barraclough | Managing director at HSBC |
Neil Bennett | PR adviser to Sir Philip Green and chief executive of Maitland |
Tony Berry | Executive chairman of Blue Arrow |
George Bingham | Neighbour of Dominic Chappell in Dorset |
Chris Blackhurst | City editor of the Evening Standard |
Andy Bond | Former chief executive of Asda |
Stephen Bourne | Former head of corporate finance at BDO Stoy Hayward and adviser to Retail Acquisitions |
Baroness Karren Brady | Chair of Taveta Investments, Arcadia Groups holding company, since 2017 |
Robert Breare | Founder of Snoozebox and associate of Paul Sutton |
Rebekah Brooks | Chief executive of News UK |
Henry Broughton | Son of Lord and Lady Fairhaven |
James Broughton | Son of Lord and Lady Fairhaven |
Alex Brummer | City editor of the Daily Mail |
Karen Buck | Labour MP and member of the BHS select committee |
Paul Budge | Finance director of Arcadia Group |
Neil Burns | Brother-in-law of Paul Sutton |
Jackie Caring (ne Stead) | Wife of Richard Caring between 1971 and 2016 |
Richard Caring | Hong Kong-based clothing supplier; later owner of Annabels and other fashionable London venues |
Simon Cawkwell | Short seller known as Evil Knievel |
Dominic Chandler | Barrister and legal adviser to Retail Acquisitions |
Damon Chappell | Brother of Dominic Chappell |
Dominic Chappell | Serial bankrupt and 90 per cent owner of Retail Acquisitions |
Joe Chappell | Father of Dominic Chappell |
Rebecca Chappell | Wife of Dominic Chappell |
Owen Clay | Partner at Linklaters and adviser to Sir Philip Green |
Sir Charles Clore | Pioneer of the hostile takeover |
Paul Coackley | Finance director of Sears after Sir Philip Greens takeover; later finance director and chief operating officer of BHS between 2000 and 2010 |
Graham Coles | Finance director of Amber Day |
Jean Costello | Shop worker at BHS in South Shields |
Jack Cotton | Business partner of Sir Charles Clore |
Simon Cowell | Creator of The X Factor and Britains Got Talent |
Geoff Cruickshank | Head of intelligence at the Pensions Regulator |
Peter Cummings | Head of corporate lending at Bank of Scotland, later HBOS |
Paul Dacre | Editor of the Daily Mail |
Malcolm Dalgleish | Property agent and adviser to Sir Philip Green; later European chairman of retail at CBRE |
John Danhakl | Joint managing partner of Leonard Green & Partners |
Alex Dellal | Property trader and grandson of Black Jack Dellal |
Steve Denison | Partner at PwC and auditor to Arcadia Group |
Dr Margaret Downes | Chair of the BHS pension trustees between 2000 and the end of 2013 |
Joseph Dryer | Head of capital markets at RiverRock and adviser to Retail Acquisitions |
Phil Duffy | Managing director of Duff & Phelps; appointed as administrator to BHS |
Robert Earl | Founder of Planet Hollywood and Everton FC stakeholder |
Panos Eliades | Schoolfriend of Sir Philip Green; later an insolvency professional |
Jimmy Evans | Violent criminal and protection man for Tony Schneider |
Lord and Lady Fairhaven | Owners of the Kirtling estate near Newmarket and victims of Paul Sutton |
Frank Field | Labour MP and joint chairman of the BHS select committee |
Steve Frankham | Building contractor who bankrupted Dominic Chappell over the Island Harbour property development |
Richard Fuller | Conservative MP and member of the BHS select committee |
Sir David Garrard | Chairman of Minerva, parent company of Allders |
Rodney Geminder | Shoe importer and Sir Philip Greens first employer |