The former owner of the collapsed high street chain BHS was the victim of political pressure, a court has been told.

Dominic Chappell, who had no previous retail experience, bought the high street chain from the billionaire Sir Philip Green for £1 in March 2015. The company collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs 13 months later, leaving a pension deficit of about £571m.

In the wake of the collapse, the Pensions Regulator moved to protect the pensions of 19,000 members and requested documents from Chappell.

When he failed to comply with the section 72 request, the regulator took Chappell to court and he was found guilty and fined.



Thrice-bankrupt Chappell, 51, of Blandford Forum, Dorset, has launched an appeal against the conviction.

At a preliminary hearing at Hove crown court on Friday, his solicitor, Michael Levy, said the regulator’s requests for “thousands and thousands” of documents were disproportionate and Chappell had been bound to fail.

He said the regulator was under political pressure to take action against Chappell over the collapse.

Levy said: “Some issues are political. We say it has a relevance. The Pensions Regulator was under pressure to do something and be seen to be responding politically at the time.”

He said that under the section 72 notice the regulator requested a huge amount of documentation relating to the pensions but gave him less than a fortnight to supply it.

He said Chappell employed a team to go through the material but they were unable to meet the deadline.

Levy said a second “disproportionate” section 72 notice, issued weeks later, made similar requests with whichhe was unable to comply.

He said: “When the TPR makes a request the question is: does it have to be reasonable and proportionate? And our position is that it does. Some regard has to be had with regard to the size of the task involved.

“In this case there is thousands and thousands of documents. There were 17 lever-arch files of documents and thousands and thousands and thousands of pages are attached to the notice.”

Chappell was fined £50,000 with £37,000 costs after being found guilty of failing to disclose vital details to the pensions watchdog as part of its investigation into the collapse of the high street chain. The judge proposed he pay £2,500 a month.

Chappell, who was not in court, will appeal against his conviction on 17 September.