On 23 January at Cardiff Crown Court, Darren Brian Pole (48) received a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, having been found guilty of failing to disclose an asset in his bankruptcy.

Darren Pole, a self-employed tiler, was declared bankrupt in October 2013 following a petition by the tax authorities for unpaid taxes of more than £100,000.

People who are made bankrupt have a duty to declare their assets, which will be used to pay off their debts. Initially Darren Pole told the Official Receiver that he only owned two properties that had no equity in them.

However, following the appointment of a Trustee in Bankruptcy, further investigations identified a third property owned by Darren Pole. The property was mortgage-free and had equity of at least £70,000, making it his most valuable asset.

When Darren Pole was confronted about his failure to disclose the third property, he stated that he was holding the property in trust for a friend, despite being shown as the owner on the Land Registry.

Darren Pole was prosecuted for making a material omission in a statement relating to his affairs in failing to disclose the asset. He stood trial at Cardiff Magistrates Court on 12 December 2018 where he was found guilty of the offence.

He was later sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court before HHJ Neil Bidder Q.C. where in addition to the suspended prison sentence, Darren Pole was fined £1,000, with 45 days imprisonment in default, and ordered to pay costs of £3,884, along with a victim surcharge of £150.

During sentencing the judge said: “It is essential that there be honesty in bankruptcy proceedings – the “bankruptcy bargain”. Where people are not honest it is inevitable that a custodial sentence will follow’.”

Rob Kilgour, Investigation Officer, of the Insolvency Service, said:

As a bankrupt you have a duty to declare all your assets as these will be used to clear your debts. But Darren Pole decided to take the law into his hands when he sidestep the rules and failed to declare the third property in order to avoid paying what he rightfully owed as a bankrupt.

Hiding assets is a serious offence and Darren Pole’s sentence should serve as a stark warning to others that we will use all our powers to not only find your hidden assets but pursue enforcement action against those that flout the law for their own personal gain.

Darren Brian Pole is from Cardiff and his date of birth is November 1970. He was prosecuted under section 356(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7637 6498

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Katie Kapernaros has been in information technology (IT) for about 30 years, mainly with IBM, in a variety of positions in Europe and Asia Pacific. She has managed many large digital teams and programmes, including the Sydney Olympics. As well as corporate governance experience, Katie has also been active in the voluntary sector, serving on a charity board and various sports committees. She was recently appointed to the board of The Property Ombudsman.

John Osmond’s 35 years experience in the IT and services industry encompasses senior management positions in alliance management, strategy, transformation consultancy, programme and risk management. As a non-executive, John has held positions in both the public and third sectors. He has been a governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a director of the Disabled People’s Employment Corporation (formerly known as Remploy) and a director of the Compaid Trust, a Kent based charity supporting disabled people. He is also a Justice of the Peace.

Welcoming the appointments, Jeremy Moore, chair of the BPDTS board said:

I’m very pleased to welcome 2 new non-executive directors to BPDTS’s board – Katie Kapernaros and John Osmond. Katie has a wealth of digital and governance experience, having worked for many years in senior executive roles at IBM in Europe and around the world. John also brings an extensive IT background along with an impressive portfolio of board positions in the public and third sector, including charity trusteeships and audit and risk management roles. We look forward to working with them.

Thousands more good school places will be created in the areas that need them most as the application criteria for the latest round of free schools are published today (31 January 2019), as part of a programme of expansion of school capacity that is on track to add 1 million more places this decade – the fastest growth in school places for two generations.

Targeting the areas with the lowest educational standards and a need for more good school places, the Education Secretary Damian Hinds is calling on even more multi-academy trusts, businesses, charities, universities, teachers, parents or faith groups to step forward and open new schools – adding to the over 250 free school projects that we are already working with groups to open.

More than 400 free schools are already open and helping to raise educational standards for young people, as recent Key Stage 4 results showed. Free schools are among the highest performing state-funded secondary schools in the country, with pupils making more progress at the end of Key Stage 4, on average, than their peers in other types of state-funded schools in 2018. Four of the top ten Progress 8 scores at any state funded school were achieved by free schools – Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford, Eden Girls’ School in Coventry, William Perkin Church of England High School in Ealing and Tauheedul Islamic Boys’ School in Blackburn.

The latest round of applications will build on this by encouraging applicants, in parts of the country that have not previously benefited from the free schools programme, to consider opening new schools that deliver higher standards and a manageable workload for teachers.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:

Free schools have helped to raise standards for pupils in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country by handing power back to head teachers and school leaders and empowering communities. Many parts of the country have already taken advantage of the Free School Programme – and have reaped the benefits – but I now want more young people benefit from a great free school opening in their area.

I have seen for myself some of the great work Free Schools do and their innovation and a different way of thinking about teaching and learning are a fantastic addition to our education system. Last week I called for more schools to convert to an academy to benefit from the additional freedom and autonomy that academies offer. I have the same message for any group considering applying to open a free school: you are best placed to make the right decisions for pupils and local communities, so I want you to help young people make the most of their talents.

Today’s publication builds on the Government’s commitment to create more good school places, with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010.

It also follows the publication of performance data from secondary schools in England which showed that standards continue to rise, with more pupils achieving strong results in English and maths, more pupils performing well in the EBacc, converter academies performing well above the national average and disadvantaged pupils in multi-academy trusts (MATs) making more progress than the equivalent national average.

Last week new figures published by the Department for Education shows that more than 50% of children in state-funded schools in England are now taught in an academy or free school – with standards rising faster in many sponsored academies than in similar council-run schools.

Since its inception in 2010 the free schools programme has delivered:

• Four hundred and forty-three new free schools – many of which are in disadvantaged areas, giving parents greater choice
• Of the mainstream free schools approved since 2014, 86% have been in areas where there was a need for more school places.
• Ofsted information for the end of the November 2018 shows that 86% of mainstream primary, secondary and all-through free schools are rated good or outstanding, including a small number which have had a new URN since they were last inspected.

Luke Sparks, Executive Principle at Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford, said:

This new wave of free schools offers communities the opportunity to benefit from great new schools challenging educational standards in the areas where it matters most.

Starting a school is an exciting and humbling opportunity to re-examine what makes a truly outstanding education; seven years ago, we asked a group of families to put faith in us and our mission to do so. Our results, so far, have honoured that commitment – proof that schools in Bradford can, and should, match any in the country.

As a start-up, some things were tough: each staff member, system and policy had to be recruited or written, but it was also a chance to craft a school culture composed of the highest standards. In our achievement-orientated culture, it is cool to be smart; all students work hard to climb the mountain to university or a real alternative: seeking great lives centred in our strong values.

We are incredibly proud of, and indebted to, our students, our staff and our families for everything we have achieved together at Dixons Trinity. We look forward to celebrating with, and learning from, the next wave of free schools.

In October, 65 local authorities submitted an expression of interest to open a special or alternative provision free school – the Department for Education will shortly launch applications for trusts to open schools in over 30 areas with the strongest case for a new school.

Separately, the Department for Education is also inviting applications to open new maths schools, building on the success of King’s College London Mathematics School and Exeter Mathematics School.

The application window for wave 14 will open in Spring 2019. The deadline for submitting applications will be 30 September 2019.

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Experts working on Highways England’s £1.5bn upgrade of the A14 in Cambridgeshire have uncovered what is believed to be evidence of the first beer brewed in the UK.

The tell-tale signs of the Iron Age brew, potentially from as far back as 400 BC, were uncovered in tiny fragments of charred residues from the beer making process from earth excavated with other archaeological finds.

Further finds show the locals also had a taste for porridge and bread as well as beer.

The discoveries are the latest on the road project where previous finds include woolly mammoths, abandoned villages, and burials.

Dr Steve Sherlock, Highways England archaeology lead for the A14, said:

The work we are doing on the A14 continues to unearth incredible discoveries that are helping to shape our understanding of how life in Cambridgeshire, and beyond, has developed through history.

It’s a well-known fact that ancient populations used the beer making process to purify water and create a safe source of hydration, but this is potentially the earliest physical evidence of that process taking place in the UK.

This is all part of the work we are doing to respect the areas cultural heritage while we deliver our vital upgrade for the A14.

A team of up to 250 archaeologists led by experts from MOLA Headland Infrastructure has been working on the project, investigating 33 sites across 360 hectares.

MOLA Headland archaeobotanist Lara Gonzalez, who came across the latest fascinating evidence, said:

I knew when I looked at these tiny fragments under the microscope that I had something special. The microstructure of these remains had clearly changed through the fermentation process and air bubbles typical of those formed in the boiling and mashing process of brewing. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack but as an archaeobotanist it’s incredibly exciting to identify remains of this significance and to play a part in uncovering the fascinating history of the Cambridgeshire landscape.

The porous structures of these fragments are quite similar to bread, but through microscopic study, it’s possible to see that this residue is from the beer-making process as it shows evidence of fermentation and contains larger pieces of cracked grains and bran but no fine flour. Further analysis into the fermentation process involved in brewing will hopefully tell us more.

The A14 is a key route between the east coast and the midlands, and Highways England is upgrading a 21-mile section between Cambridge to Huntingdon, which will speed up journeys by up to 20 minutes. Finds so far have included 40 pottery kilns, 342 burials, a Roman supply depot, rare Roman coins from the third century, three Anglo Saxon villages, an abandoned Medieval village.

When archaeological features are excavated, soil samples are collected and sent back to a laboratory for archaeobotanists to examine. These samples hold tiny but vital evidence that can shape our understanding of how, and where, people have cultivated crops, providing tantalising clues about our food, drink and occasionally clothing, in the distant past.

Roger Protz, lecturer, author of more than 20 books on beer including IPA – A Legend in Our Time, and former editor of the Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide, said:

East Anglia has always been of great importance to brewing as a result of the quality of the barley that grows there. It’s known as maritime barley and is prized throughout the world. When the Romans invaded Britain they found the local tribes brewing a type of beer called curmi. As far as is known, it was made from grain, but no hops were used: hops didn’t come into use in Britain until the 15th century, and there was much opposition to hops from many traditional brewers, who used herbs and spice to balance the sweetness of the malt.

In the late 1990s scientists at Cambridge University used a translation of a recipe for beer brewed in Ancient Egypt that was made from grain and dates. I tasted the beer and it was surprisingly ‘beery’. A brewery in Ghent, Belgium, called Gruut produces beers using medieval recipes and flavours the beers with the likes of ivy, ginger, bog myrtle and peppercorns. Again, the end products are remarkably like modern beers.

The Romans may have made beer – perhaps when supplies of wine ran out. Excavations in the old Roman part of St Albans – Verulamium – found a malt kiln.

The pioneering work of the project has now seen the A14 archaeology project nominated for the “Rescue Project of the Year” accolade in the 2019 Current Archaeology Awards. All projects nominated are commended for their archaeological work over the last 12 months. The awards are voted for entirely by the public. Voting is now live and will run until Monday 11 February, with the winners announced on Friday 8 March. Get full details about the project’s nomination and cast your vote.

Main construction of the A14 improvement is progressing well and reached the half way mark in November 2018. The project, which will open to traffic by December 2020, will add capacity and boost the local and national economy.

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