Disqualified Director Who Claimed 'Induced Coma' Jailed After Running Phoenix Firms

Peter Etherington, 68, of Belle Vue, Ilkley, has been jailed after admitting he continued to run a company while subject to a director disqualification.

Court Sentencing

At Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday, Etherington pleaded guilty in March to acting as a director of PP Global Media Ltd between April 2019 and October 2022 despite being disqualified by the Insolvency Service. He was given an immediate custodial sentence of 18 months and two weeks; five months of that term arose from an activated suspended sentence he had previously breached.

Judge Ahmed Nadim said: "You made a deliberate calculated decision that the rewards of offending outweighed the risks of detection." He added that Etherington showed "a complete absence of remorse, insight or any intention to reform."

Deception During Proceedings

Magistrates were told Etherington failed to attend a hearing in January after his legal team said he was in an induced coma. The Insolvency Service found no hospital record of him being an inpatient, and witnesses had reportedly seen him shopping in Tesco. The judge said the coma claim was not the only falsehood in the proceedings.

On a separate occasion Etherington said he was due to undergo surgery on the originally scheduled hearing date, but again no hospital records supported that claim. He also missed a pre-sentence review with the Probation Service earlier this year, telling officials he could not attend because he had no phone.

History Of Similar Offences

In May 2022 Etherington was convicted of a similar offence for acting as a director while disqualified between 2017 and 2019. Judge Nadim noted this offending began immediately after the period covered by that earlier conviction and continued while Etherington remained subject to a suspended sentence, describing him as the "driving force" behind business operations while concealing his true role.

Further Sanctions And Official Reaction

In addition to the custodial term, the court disqualified Etherington from serving as a company director for a further ten years.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said the disqualification regime exists to protect the public from people who have shown they cannot be trusted in business. He described Etherington as a "persistent offender" who ran the same business through successive "phoenix" companies and said the service would seek the strongest possible sanctions against those who flout the law.

Key facts: Etherington admitted breaching the director ban for more than three years, has a prior similar conviction, and has been handed both immediate custody and an extended disqualification.