Legal action against the former owner of the Ocean Hotel has officially been dropped, the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.
Earlier this week, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was no case to answer in the action against Stephen Purvis, the once-owner of the Ocean Hotel, through his company Phoenix Commercial Property Developments (PCPD).
It was alleged Mr Purvis failed to comply with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) on 12th July in regard to the Sandown Esplanade eyesore property.
A CPS spokesperson has confirmed after a review of the case, it has been concluded the legal test is no longer met. This is because evidence has been provided to demonstrate Mr Purvis was not the director of PCPD at the time the CPN was issued.
But, how did we get here..?
In April last year, the freehold of the Ocean Hotel was sold to PCPD, of which Mr Purvis was a director.
In May this year, Hampshire Constabulary announced it had issued a CPN warning against PCPD, which the company was required to comply with by 10th June. No action had been taken so the police issued a formal CPN on 11th June, giving the company a month to comply.
Again, no action had been taken by 11th July, so on 12th July Hampshire Constabulary issued summons to court for the owners.
While all of this was unfolding, however, changes were being at PCPD, but public records were not updated to reflect that. Documents uploaded to Companies House on 13th September — the day the alleged CPN breach was first due to be heard in court — show Mr Purvis and PCPD parted ways on 31st May.
A PCPD spokesperson said Mr Purvis has launched legal action against the police and itself, his former company, for failing to accurately maintain its registers.
The company has since sold its freehold to the Ocean Hotel and walked away from the Island.
Hampshire Constabulary has confirmed securing the abandoned hotel is still a priority and is currently liasing with its current owners to make sure it happens.
Hmm… SO as read, do we see that Hampshire Police issued a second Community Protection Notice to someone who was by that time showing on public records as not being the person to issue the CPN to?? Oh dear. How much £££ of this years Council tax increase did that cost? Still all someone else’s money so who cares as usual.
Who said “the law is an ass”? Clearly Mr Purvis’ lawyers are well aware of it.
Interestng that the overdue documents were miraculously submitted on the very day the case was to be heard; now that would have to have been done by the company (since Mr Purvis blames them for the delay, so we have to assume that he had completed all his duties timeously), so who prompted them? It can only have been Mr Purvis …
This is a timely warning not to believe what Companies House says – as they admit, they make no attempt to verify information submitted or displayed.
What a complete balls-up!!