BARDSLEY CONSTRUCTION DIRECTOR FRAUD ALLEGATION
In reading the national and international news stories you could get the idea Frostick was a man bent on revenge who tried to ruin an estate agent (Ryder & Dutton) after recently being gazumped on a property purchase. It now appears this is far from the truth.
Frostick admitted sending 750 faxes out of a possible 200,000 as a warning shot to Ryder and Dutton if they did not answer his questions about their involvement in his loss of over 1.1 million pounds-worth of properties, despite the current slump in market value and property prices.
There are three parties involved in what appears to be a fraud which remains uninvestigated; Ryder and Dutton Owner in 1997 only known as Mr Ainsley and the Managing Director of Bardsley Construction in Ashton, Wayne Bardsley.
LINKS
Wayne Bardsley Burkes Peerage
http://www.burkespeerage.com/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=BARDSLEYWAYNE
Wayne Bardsley photo
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/211/211692_bardsley_family_net_50m_in_homes_sale.html
The National Press story;
THE GUARDIAN : http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/16/martin-frostick-jail-estate-agents
THE DAILY MAIL
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199644/Homebuyer-launched-smear-campaign-estate-agents-gazumped.html
ESTATE AGENT TODAY
http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=2123&type=news_features
GOOGLE SEARCH
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22martin+frostick%22+%2Bryder+%2Bdutton&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8&redir_esc=&ei=UmnBS_OUCaH80wSx4YCnCQ
National Association of Estate Agents Rules of Conduct and Code of Practice
http://www.naea.co.uk/help/cop.aspx
Part 1 of 2 : THE RYDER AND DUTTON FRAUD ALLEGATION
In 1997 Oldham businessman Martin Frostick began the acquisition of a new family home, Harrop Cote Farm in Diggle Saddleworth through Ryder & Dutton estate agents.
At the time the property was owned by Mr Wayne Bardsley, son of Roland Bardsley, the owner of a local and trusted building company Roland Bardsley Construction.
Wayne Bardsley showed Mr Frostick around his £295,000 property, Harrop Cote Farm with Ryder and Duttons’ proprietor at that time Mr Ainsley, and a purchase was agreed.
At the same time Mr Frostick initiated the rental of his then current home Linden Lea which was a five bedroomed, fully furnished semi-detached property in Oldham.
Mr Frostick also rented a further property closer to his new home-to-be, and relocated to make the final move to his new family home easier.
After Linden Lea’s tenants failed to meet their monthly payment in month three, Mr Frostick requested they vacate the property.
He then handed the keys of Linden Lea over to the Bradford & Bingley Building Society with whom he had the mortgage and arranged for them to sell the house, recover their mortgage and deliver the balance when all disbursements had been met.
Considering the property was valued two years previously by Ryder & Dutton at £45,000 and the mortgage outstanding was £32,000, after disbursements, Mr Frostick expected to recover around £15,000, assuming two years after the last valuation the property was likely to be put on the market at a minimum of £54,000.
Some months later Bradford & Bingley came back to Mr Frostick to say they had sold his property Linden Lea for £16,000 and stated that he was now required to pay them a £16,000 difference between the sale price and the mortgage outstanding.
Mr Frostick was very suspicious of the transaction and the disparity of the figures but was not in a position to pursue the matter.
That was until he wrote to them in 2008 requesting details on why the property sale was so low and what happened to the contents of his fully furnished, five bedroomed property Linden Lea.
When they got back to Mr Frostick in writing, amongst other details, they sent him copies of documents which showed that Ryder and Dutton Estate Agents had been involved directly in the sale of Linden Lea and had valued the property at only £27,000 despite their valuation two years previously of £45,000.
Further, the Bradford & Bingley stated, the only interest in the property according to Ryder & Dutton was from a party prepared to pay £16,000 and this was the price accepted.
It is Mr Frostick’ belief that Ryder and Dutton had a conflict of interest that they did not declare to Bradford & Bingley in that, they were dealing with him in a house purchase and it would be unethical to accept the commission.
The Fraud Act 2006 dictates, there is a case to answer of “fraud by omission” by Ryder & Dutton
It is now known that they passed on privileged information to their client Wayne Bardsley, from Bradford & Bingley about Mr Frostick which was not in the public domain.
This information resulted in Mr Bardsley immediately offering his property for sale to a second buyer without notifying Mr Frostick. Ryder and Dutton also failed to notify Bradford & Bingley or Mr Frostick.
The Fraud Act 2006 dictates that this may be “fraud by abuse of position of trust” by Mr Ainsley and “fraud by false representation.”
The action meant Mr Frostick was still incurring fees until over a month after the Harrop Cote farm property had been sold.
Mr Frostick’ immediate loss was £4,500 in fees and surveys etc. greater subsequential personal and financial losses were to follow.
Mr Frostick alleges this constitutes criminal fraud (Chapter 5 of the Fraud Act 2006) and will be asking the police to investigate in due course.
Ryder & Duttons’ deception and unethical practice in this case is also in direct contravention of the code of conduct laid down by the National Association of Estate Agents of which they are members.
The NAEA states that: “Members must meet certain standards relating to professional and ethical practice. Under the rules, agents are required to protect and promote their client’s interests, while at all times acting in a fair and proper manner.”
It is Mr Frostick’ belief that Ryder & Dutton did not act in a fair and proper manner and therefore are of questionable integrity. He suggests it may be prudent to scrutinise dealings with them in all financial transactions.
Part 2 of 2 : THE WAYNE BARDSLEY FRAUD ALLEGATION.
Re: MR. WAYNE BARDSLEY, CHAIRMAN OF ROLAND BARDSLEY HOMES.
The alleged fraud concerns Wayne Bardsley’s previous home before his move to Stanthorne Hall Farm in Cheshire in 1998.
In late 1997, Oldham businessman Martin Frostick began the acquisition of a new family home, Harrop Cote Farm in Diggle, Saddleworth. The property was introduced to him as being owned by Wayne Bardsley, son of Roland Bardsley, the respected owner of a local and prominent building company Roland Bardsley Homes.
Wayne Bardsley showed Mr Frostick around his £295,000 home, Harrop Cote Farm, with his estate agent Mr Ainsley, proprietor of Ryder & Dutton. The property purchase was then agreed.
In April 1998 two to four weeks before the projected completion of Harrop Cote Farm purchase, Mr Frostick was suddenly and without warning phoned by Mr Ainsley, of Ryder & Dutton, and told that the property had been “sold to another party as he had been too slow in getting the mortgage finalised”.
In 2008, documents provided to Mr Frostick by the Bradford & Bingley Building Society showed that Ryder & Dutton were asked to sell a property by Bradford & Bingley in March 1998, the same time as the purchase of Harrop Cote Farm was in progress,
The property concerned was owned by Mr Frostick which is clear in the initial correspondence from B&B to Ryders. Ryder & Dutton critically, failed to declare an interest at this juncture and were subsequently provided with privileged financial information about Mr Frostick which was not in the public domain.
That information detailed Mr Frostick’ instruction to Bradford & Bingley to sell his home Linden Lea which, Ryder & Duttons’ Mr Ainsley mistakenly believed was a forced repossession for non-payment of mortgage.
As a result of this mistake, Mr Ainsley the proprietor of Ryder & Dutton imparted the information to Wayne Bardsley, the marketing director of Roland Bardsley Homes.
Under the Fraud Act 2006 this may be “fraud by abuse of position of trust” by Mr Ainsley.
As a direct result of this, Mr Bardsley immediately offered his property for sale to a second buyer without notifying Mr Frostick, eventually selling Harrop Cote Farm to his secondary buyer for £10,000 less than the agreed price.
This action meant Mr Frostick was still incurring costs and fees for over a month after the decision by Wayne Bardsley to withdraw from the sale.
The Fraud Act 2006 dictates that there may be a case to answer of “fraud by omission” and “fraud by false representation” by Wayne Bardsley.
Ryder and Dutton also failed to notify Bradford & Bingley or Mr Frostick of the sale withdrawal by Mr Bardsley.
The Fraud Act 2006 dictates, there is a case to answer of “fraud by omission” by Ryder & Dutton
Mr Frostick’ loss was £4,500 in fees and surveys etc. There was also greater subsequential personal and financial losses to follow and it is his belief that because the lack of probity by Wayne Bardsley it demonstrated that he may be of questionable integrity.
Mr Frostick suggests it may be prudent to scrutinise all dealings with Roland Bardsley Homes and any other business of which Wayne Bardsley is chairman, director or associated with including:
• Roland Bardsley Homes,
• Bardsley Construction,
• GL Joinery,
• Microflow (Europe) Ltd
• Carriages Leisure.
• Swan Hotel in the Lake District
• Ruskin Hotel in Blackpool.
Update:
An appeal is currently under consideration on the Ryder & Dutton conviction although Frostick himself admits
"the changes in the Fraud Act in 2006, has made the Act itself so grey, that it's impossible for any individual in the UK to do anything that Isn’t fraudulent, indeed, half the MP's in the UK have just been convicted, so I suppose something good has come out of it" he said with a grin.
"for example, this picture of a swimsuit (phew) if I say to someone would you like to buy this blue swimsuit I'm actually committing a fraud because I am putting them 'AT RISK' of losing money, irrespective of the photo! That's a clever freakin' law isn't it!"
His crusade continues... with a cheeky smile.
Contact Mr Frostick via this site or through;
Rahman Ravelli, Serious Fraud Solicitors, Saracen House, 10 Pellon Lane, Halifax, X1 5SP
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