Bankrupt club boss jailed for 18 months

David Sinclair, 49, once one of Rochdale's leading independent bar owners, has been jailed for 18 months for failing to disclose assets he held abroad whilst owing hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid taxes.

Sinclair admitted to making material omissions and failing to disclose assets.

His wife and business partner, Julie Sinclair, 48, also admitted making material omissions and was sentenced to nine months, suspended for 18 months, with 200 hours unpaid work.

Manchester Crown Court heard how Sinclair and his wife sold three of their clubs to Rochdale Council in December 2008 under the town centre redevelopment plans.

After the sale of the businesses and paying off their mortgage, the couple were left with around £500,000 but continued to run the bars under a ‘lease-back’ agreement.

The couple were then made bankrupt two years later with debts of £270,000, with the majority of that being owed in taxes. By then, the remainder of the money from the council sale had been placed into a hidden bank account in France.

The couple’s deceit only came to light when Rochdale Council informed the official receiver about the deal and investigations into their affairs intensified.

It then emerged that the couple had two apartments in Murcia, Spain and within weeks of being adjudged bankrupt, Sinclair splashed out on a three hectare landscaped site with its own carp lake, fishing berth and outbuilding surrounded by woodland in St Mayeux, Brittany.

The prosecution was brought by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Sinclairs, one of the couple's Rochdale nightclubs, was closed after John Barrett, 31, from Harpurhey, was killed in a fight there in the early hours of Christmas Day morning in 2011.