‘Lazy, inept police force’ drags its feet over alleged £86,000 company collapse fraud
The downfall of Danoli Solutions Limited, an Ormskirk computer repair firm, has taken a dramatic turn into potentially criminal territory with a September 2024 Interim Liquidator’s Report uncovering concerns over £86,000 apparently misappropriated by company officers—a matter reported to Lancashire Constabulary in November 2024 as an alleged offence under Section 1 of the Fraud Act…
The downfall of Danoli Solutions Limited, an Ormskirk computer repair firm, has taken a dramatic turn into potentially criminal territory with a September 2024 Interim Liquidator’s Report uncovering concerns over £86,000 apparently misappropriated by company officers—a matter reported to Lancashire Constabulary in November 2024 as an alleged offence under Section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006, fraud by false representation.
Neil Wilby Media has previously reported extensively on the impending, and then ultimate, collapse of the IT company – and the circumstances underpinning it. The full extent of their public interest reporting can be viewed here.
Danoli’s directors went to considerable, and notably unsuccessful, lengths to stifle those articles – and insist on their removal – via constant threats of civil claims. Alleging stalking, harassment and malicious falsehoods. There were numerous reports to the police of the same genre.
They vigorously deny any wrongdoing but the facts and evidence, accessible in public documents at Companies House, were always, and unfortunately, against them.
Paul Ponting, 55, of Yew Tree Road, co-director with his wife, Anna Ponting, when the firm collapsed in 2023, owing over £100,000 to creditors, stand at the heart of this financial unraveling.
As the police’s fraud investigation stalls, generously assuming that it has even started, the Pontings’ lavish spending—foreign holidays, a drone, a high-powered motorcycle—and Paul’s prodigious funding of mostly vexatious civil claims and repeatedly failed private prosecutions, tied to his astonishingly large number of hate campaigns, paint a provocative picture.
Whilst an unanswered email from journalist Neil Wilby to Inspector Iain Carr, based at Preston Police Station, strongly suggests that Lancs may be attempting to let the case fade into history, unaddressed.
Danoli Solutions Ltd., incorporated in 2005, was a fixture in Ormskirk’s small business landscape, offering IT repairs and ancillary services for nearly twenty years. By 2020, the wheels began to come off—financial strain deepened by Ponting’s public feuds, earning him the “Ormskirk Vigilante” tag, as forensically chronicled by Neil Wilby Media.
The firm ceased trading by July 2023, leaving creditors – His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs amongst them – owed upwards of £100,000. After objections stalled its dissolution, voluntary liquidation under the Insolvency Act 1986 was entered into. The Pontings plainly hoping that such a tactic, that cost them £3,000 plus VAT, would aid them in avoiding public scrutiny.
The September 2024 Interim Report, filed as the liquidator sifted through the corporate wreckage, delivered a shock and not least to the Pontings: £86,000 of company funds appeared to have been misappropriated by its officers, a sum that could explain much of Danoli’s insolvency and point to deliberate misconduct beyond mere business failure or bad luck.
The liquidator, Jamie Playford of Leading Business Services Ltd, has, correctly, taken steps to investigate large, round-sum transactions and payments to unknown parties made shortly before the company’s collapse. Despite persistent queries, the liquidator reported receiving insufficient responses from Paul Ponting, elsewhere widely recognised as a persistent, mendacious liar, leaving the fate of the unaccounted funds unclear and ripe for investigation by the police.
Under Section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006, fraud by false representation involves dishonestly making a false statement—perhaps to creditors, suppliers, or HMRC—to gain financially or cause loss.
As noted in the opening paragraphs of this article, this alleged offence was reported to Lancs in November 2024, with the liquidator’s concerns suggesting Ponting and his wife have misrepresented Danoli’s financial health, and, taken at its face, diverting £86,000 for personal use or to, otherwise, mask the firm’s decline from customers.
Conviction could carry up to seven years in prison and restitution orders, a steep fall from Danoli’s modest origins.
The £86,000, if proven to be siphoned off by the Danoli directors, could account for a hefty chunk of the £100,000-plus creditor shortfall, leaving HMRC, trade partners, and others to shoulder the loss. The report, though not fully public, hints at irregularities—money moved or concealed—that transform the company’s collapse from a tale of misfortune into one of potential criminality.
The Pontings’ lifestyle since Danoli’s demise sharpens the scrutiny. Their expenditures, eye-catching in both their extravagance and wastefulness, stand in stark contrast to a firm that left creditors empty-handed. A substantial portion of which is public funds. Hence the necessity for a robust, but proportionate, police investigation.
Paul Ponting’s funding of numerous civil justice claims and private criminal prosecutions adds another layer of intrigue—legal actions often branded vexatious and frequently unsuccessful, targeting individuals ensnared, frequently on the flimsiest of pretexts, in his wide-ranging hate campaigns.
These pursuits, seriously draining in terms of legal costs, court fees, and time, demand a steady cash flow: filing fees alone can run to £100s per claim, while private prosecutions, rare and complex, require representation from suitably experienced solicitors or barristers, pushing expenses into the thousands.
A burning question and one that has been put to the police by several of those targeted by the Pontings: Where is the money coming from to fund these legal cases – and the huge amount of costs and damages awarded against Paul Ponting?
With Danoli’s £86,000 still unaccounted for and creditors unpaid, the juxtaposition of lavish spending and legal barrages suggests either hidden reserves or a reckless defiance of financial reality.
Ponting’s online presence—prolific across social media and various trolling websites— as yet offers no rebuttal to the fraud allegations: Known for firing off posts and blogs against his many perceived foes, he’s remained silent on the £86,000 claim, a departure from his usual combative stance that has left observers puzzled.
This reticence coincides with fresh legal trouble: It has emerged very recently that a £30,000 costs award made against him following a courtroom loss against the same Lancashire Constabulary in 2020 looks looks as though it remains unpaid (read more here). Interest adds £11,000 to the unpaid bill if that debt is, eventually, confirmed by the police.
The alleged company fraud report to Lancs, now as long as four months ago, casts another financial shadow over his legal woes, hinting at a man juggling courtroom battles with a crumbling fiscal legacy.
Not assisted by another huge costs and damages award against him in April, 2024. The £26,400 (plus interest of around £2,500) also remains unpaid, with the successful claimant having to obtain a High Court enforcement order that could trigger the reluctant sale of the Pontings house in Ormskirk, unless the debt is satisfied. A recent court challenge by the Pontings against that Writ of Control also failed.
Lancs’ response to the alleged fraud, or to be more accurate a lack thereof, draws growing scepticism. On 13th February, 2025, Neil Wilby wrote to Inspector Iain Carr—the officer to whom the fraud was originally reported—requesting an update on the investigation, specifically asking whether the liquidator had been contacted and interviewed to flesh out the whereabouts of the missing £86,000.
As of today (11th March, 2025), Insp Carr has not replied, nor has his supervisor to whom that same email was forwarded shortly afterwards, Supt Gary Crowe, a silence that fuels speculation that Lancs hope the matter will fade into obscurity. Regrettably, the same inspector has a lengthy history of not responding to emails, especially those that are challenging and require positive action. As Neil Wilby mentioned to him in that same email ‘your communication skills are ripe for improvement’.
Reported in November 2024, the fraud allegation demanded a prompt and robust response and, as a minimum, an arrest, a PACE search of the company’s premises, seizing of electronic devices, company accounting records and any other materials relevant to the investigation: Including bank statements to trace the £86,000, witness statements from creditors and employees, and, as mentioned earlier, an interview with the liquidator to clarify the alleged misappropriation’s scope.
Did Ponting knowingly misrepresent Danoli’s state—perhaps inflating assets or hiding losses—to siphon funds? Was it personal enrichment, or a desperate bid to prop up a failing firm? Almost four months on; no arrests, charges, or public updates have emerged, leaving the case in a limbo that frustrates creditors and observers alike. The complete absence of curiosity from Inspector Carr reflects badly not just on him but saps public confidence in the entire police force.
The £87,000 misappropriation isn’t just a figure—it’s a lens into Danoli’s final, chaotic years. The liquidator’s report suggests a tangled web—money diverted through false pretences—that goes beyond mismanagement.
Ponting’s hate campaigns, fuelled by legal filings like private prosecutions, often target individuals with relentless, failed efforts, draining financial resources that contrast starkly with Danoli’s collapse and, it could be safely argued, very considerably led to the company’s demise.
HMRC, a key player in forcing liquidation, albeit voluntary, after unpaid tax bills, could push for prosecution if public funds were part of the £87,000, raising the stakes. The £100,000-plus creditor hit underscores the fallout, with the misappropriated sum as a potential lynchpin. The fact that the police have, apparently, made no contact with HMRC is at best, questionable, at its worst, a deplorable dereliction of duty.
But the story has yet another twist: Whilst Danoli’s financial debris was still being sifted, Solar IT, a partnership entity, emerged in the very same premises, previously occupied by Danoli Solutions Ltd. Operating with what appears to be startling continuity, Solar IT adopted Danoli’s remaining contracts, continued using the company’s assets, such as furniture and computer equipment, and even continue to communicate widely, including to the police and courts, using the danoli.com email domain.
Though phoenix companies can serve legitimate purposes in preserving business operations, Solar IT’s formation as a partnership—rather than a limited company—has drawn understandable scepticism. Such a move allows key figures like Paul Ponting to avoid the regulations imposed on company directors, particularly in light of what appear to be efforts by the liquidator to seek Ponting’s disqualification as a director via the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
So, the big question is: Will the police, as they absolutely should, pursue a case tying a local figure to corporate collapse or let it slip amid Danoli’s ashes. For now, the Pontings’ lavish holidays, high-end toys, legal crusades – and Paul’s nine month affair last year with a mistress 25 years his junior – stand as a provocative coda to a business gone bust, with the £86,000 as a ghost haunting its wreckage.
Neil Wilby expresses his frustration thus: “The liquidator’s report contains prima facie evidence of financial misconduct. The police’s lack of engagement is deeply troubling and raises questions not only about the enforcement of white-collar crime, but the wider and repeating issue of laziness and ineptitude of Lancashire Constabulary and its cadre of self-satisfied, self-serving officers.”
“The concluding questions I put to Inspector Carr, and his supervisors are these:
“Firstly, if shoplifters and those making off from petrol stations are not just pursued but frequently the subject of public appeals, with photographs, what is the issue that prevents the recording and investigation of misappropriating £86,000, by Danoli’s company officers, on what appears to be the clearest of evidence”.
“Secondly, I was interviewed at considerable length by Lancs officers at their Preston Police Station in November, 2024, albeit voluntarily, over an accredited journalist’s circulation of public interest articles. Yet the same force appear to be doggedly refusing to take action over the fruits of the forensic, evidence-based investigations behind them”.
UPDATE: Following publication of this article earlier today (11th March, 2024), it has been drawn to the attention of Neil Wilby Media that there will also be significant income tax, benefit in kind and P11D implications for Paul Ponting arising from his whopping Director’s Loan Account. It is also likely that the applicable National Insurance contributions remain unaccounted for (read more here).
Danoli’s former directors both insist that there has been no wrongdoing and that ‘the liquidation was lawful’.
Page last updated: Thursday 24th July, 2025 at 0715 hours
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