Allan Kenneth Barke (34), had been the director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited from its incorporation in November 2014 until September 2015. The furniture company then traded until April 2016 when it was wound up and went into voluntary liquidation.

The Company’s  liquidation, however, triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which found that the owner, Allan Barke,  had in fact been declared bankrupt in September 2015 following a petition by the liquidators of AB Joinery (Stockport) Limited, a previous company he was director of.

As part of his bankruptcy, Allan Barke had been banned from acting as a company director and after Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited went into liquidation, the furniture maker was not allowed to form a company with a similar name.

The investigation found that Allan Barke had breached his restrictions when it came to light in June 2016 that  the furniture maker was trading under a company using the name CFF Joinery & Furniture, a name prohibited under the terms of the liquidation.

Barke had also continued to act as sole director for the new company, CFF Joinery & Furniture, after being declared bankrupt.  He was charged with one count of acting as the director of Cheshire Fitted Furniture Limited when he was disqualified from doing so due to bankruptcy and one count of continuing to use a proscribed company name after the business entered liquidation in April 2016.

After pleading  guilty to both counts at Stockport Magistrates Court in January 2021, Barke  was also given a 22 month prison sentence suspended for 2 years for a further 22 fraud offences which were part of a separate investigation by Cheshire Police.

The 8-year ban means he cannot directly or indirectly become involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.