Printco director disqualified

A company director associated with multiple failed printing businesses has been struck off for five years after being convicted of fraud.

Bob Binfield, whose full name is Robert Frederick Binfield, has been disqualified as a director until 2023 after being convicted of an indictable offence.

At the end of last year Binfield was found guilty of fraudulent evasion of VAT, in a case that related to property company LP Investment Properties.

On 10 December at Chester Crown Court he was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Binfield, of Kidnal near Malpas in Cheshire, has a long and chequered association with the printing industry. He was a director of Dorking Envelope Solutions, LPM Solutions, The Rival Envelope Company, SCR Envelopes, SCR Print, Print On Solutions and Wepos, which traded as Print On.

His most recent venture is Leeds-based envelope and bag overprinter Alpacka.

Binfield also signed off the accounts of failed London corporate print specialist The Colourhouse in his role as senior statutory auditor at Lanson Partnership. The Colourhouse went bust in 2013, owing creditors almost £6m.

In 2014 Binfield was excluded from membership of accountancy body ICAEW (The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) for signing off audit reports while not registered to do so.

LP Investment Properties owned land and buildings on Arklow Road in London, which was also where The Colourhouse was located.

Print On Solutions phoenixed into Wepos in 2016. Wepos subsequently ceased trading in May 2017 after a winding-up petition was filed by HMRC. Binfield then went on to set up Alpacka as a limited liability partnership together with Steve Allott.

Binfield resigned as a director of Alpacka on 31 December.

PrintWeek has been unable to reach Binfield for comment.

Allott had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

Note: PrintWeek has subsequently been informed that, although the details still appear on the Companies House website, Binfield's directorship at Dorking Envelope Solutions was unauthorised.