FRAUD squad police have investigated a Minehead photographer who is also a former bankrupt.
Two detectives visited the town last year to speak to local businessmen about the activities of Mark Stothard (pictured), who has been trading under the company name Mark The Photographer Ltd.
The inquiries at that time were in relation to items being sold on the internet auction site eBAY apparently on behalf of a firm called Carnopy.co.uk, which was a genuine company not involved in any scam.
Mr Stothard, aged 40, who at one time took photographs for The Crier newspaper and subsequently for The Post, was found to have been discharged from bankruptcy only the months earlier.
He had been made bankrupt in Eastbourne County Court in May, 2005, when he was known to be also using another name, Anthony Leaver, which coincidentally was the name of a Scottish man who had lost his wallet the previous year. Anthony was also his middle name.
His occupation at the time was given as unknown and his address was listed as Gates Cottage, Beasley Farm, Timberscombe, although it had recently been in North Street, Taunton.
A month after his automatic discharge from bankruptcy, Mr Stothard converted his Mark The Photographer sole trading name to a limited company with a registered address in Praed Street, London, which continues to be used as a trading address.
Eleven months later, in December, 2007, a county court judgement for a debt of £12,194 was obtained against Mr Stothard’s company Mark The Photographer Ltd during an ‘in chambers’ session held in Banbury County Court, Oxfordshire.
A few days later, The Post began receiving invoices from Mark The Photographer Ltd claiming fees of nearly £1,000 for photographs taken under an agreement whereby had received promotion of his business in the newspaper.
Since then, the bills claimed against The Post by Mr Stothard have risen to nearly £1,300 and the newspaper has also been receiving demands on his behalf from a business calling itself South West Debt Recovery.
Mr Stothard, who uses his wife Sarah Masters a company director to sign correspondence, was recently believed to be living off Seaward Way, Minehead, but has now started using a trading address in Bridge Street, Taunton.
SW Debt Recovery – which is also the name of a dissolved company – conceals its identity by using a Taunton PO Box number as its address and does not give any names of people in the business.
After threatening court action against The Post, the debt recovery business has since claimed to have reported the newspaper to the ‘Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary together with the electoral and Parliamentary bodies regarding your business activities’.
The Mayor of Minehead, Councillor David Hawkes has received correspondence on behalf of Mr Stothard complaining that he was owed money by The Post’s sales and marketing manager, Dudley Seale, who is a town councillor.
It is understood Mr Stothard has sent similar letters to the Conservative’s constituency office and to the West Somerset Free Press and Somerset County Gazette newspapers.
The Post understands Mr Stothard has similarly harassed a member of Minehead Cricket Club and other local businesses have been upset by his demands for payments they did not believe he was owed.
Since moving to West Somerset, Mr Stothard has been involved in a string of different business names, including We Have Delivered It, Inco (IBS) Management and Business Consultants, Summerlands, Carnopy.eu, and Tender First.
One interested party who has tracked Mr Stothard’s known business history since he left school in Lancing, West Sussex, at the age of 16, described him as a ‘moving target’ who used anonymity of the internet and the privacy of accommodation boxes to evade creditors.
The Post has received an extensive dossier on Mr Stothard listing a trail of people said to have been owed money by him.
Prior to moving to live in West Somerset, Mrs Stothard also had many other business names, and one company The AJ Management Company Ltd, was compulsorily wound up by the Official Receiver in Brighton, in July, 2002.
During his time working with The Crier, Mr Stothard used a 07074 premium rate telephone number on his advertising which he claimed was a ‘mobile’ number, and he earned money every time somebody called him on it. The practice stopped when The Crier challenged him on the matter.
He also made claims on his website during 2006 that he was going to be away in France photographing the Tour de France cycle race and in Germany for the football World Cup finals – while somehow he was actually still able to be in Minehead taking photographs for The Crier.
His glossy website contains a gallery of photographs of world leaders and sportsmen, but Mr Stothard carefully avoids actually stating in writing that they were taken by him.
This week, Mr Seale went to police in Minehead to complain about Mr Stothard’s business practices.
The Post will make available to the police the dossier of information it has on Mr Stothard.
Mr Seale said: “I would like to hear from anybody else who has had dealings with Mr Stothard or any of his businesses so that I can draw up as comprehensive a picture of his activities as possible.”
CONSULTANT business trainer Margaret Worth had a shock when she heard a drunk-driver crash into and wreck her car while it was parked outside her home.
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