A Sunday newspaper claims Noel Edmonds has fled the UK to avoid paying back a £1million debt to Legal Protection Group.
Legal Protection Group Ltd shareholder, Bank’s used private investigators and satellite technology to track down Mr Edmonds to a 'hideout' in New Zealand – where he plans to serve legal papers to recover a total of £1,344,000 from the TV presenter.
Banks says he is 'fuming', claiming Mr Edmonds still owes Legal Protection Group Ltd the money as a result of the Deal Or No Deal presenter's high-profile battle to recover millions of pounds from Lloyds Banking Group lost as part of a fraud.
Mr Edmonds covered his legal costs by taking out an insurance policy from the Legal Protection Group, who recently published a £750k annual loss for 2019.
A premium for the ATE insurance policy was due when he reached a settlement with the bank.
Mr Edmonds denied he had fled the country or was in hiding, and disputed being liable for the sum.
Banks told Sunday paper: 'I'm fuming. Mr Edmonds has run off to a lush part of New Zealand with Legal Protection Groups shareholders money, trying to hide from his debtors. LPG underwriters backed his legal dispute with the banks, he reached a deal, and then headed for New Zealand without even acknowledging his debt to Legal Protection Group.
Legal Protection Group's Spies
Banks’s spies tracked down Mr Edmonds by comparing images in the backdrop of a local TV interview given by Mr Edmonds with those from a satellite. Focusing on the positioning of the swimming pool in relation to the main dwelling house, the spacing of the box hedging visible in the background of the pool shot, and the roofline and relationship between the dwelling house and outbuildings.
Mr Edmonds was reported to have come to a financial agreement worth a reported £5 million with Lloyds after corrupt financiers from the bank's Reading branch were imprisoned in 2017 for a £245 million loans scam, which destroyed a number of businesses – including Mr Edmonds' Unique Group – while the criminals squandered the profits on high-class prostitutes and luxury holidays. He received an apology from the group for the distress he suffered, but sources close to him said last night that a final legal settlement had not been reached with the bank.
A source close to Legal Protection Group said: 'The £1 million premium became due in July 2019 when Mr Edmonds reached an out-of-court settlement with the bank.
'We wrote to Mr Edmonds in August 2019 pointing out the policy conditions but he ignored the communications. We have established that Mr Edmonds emigrated in a hurry shortly after the settlement. His solicitors have deliberately obstructed and delayed, but now that we have tracked down his hiding place we are seeking to serve papers on him in New Zealand to enforce and recover the money.'
It is absolute disgusting lies
Edmond's said: 'The house that I have in the UK was put on the market a couple of years ago and is now sold and they were told all this last week and they've still run the story that apparently I'm going to skulk off to New Zealand. It is absolute disgusting lies
The source close to Mr Edmonds said: 'This issue will become a legal fight. Noel is taking action against the legal representatives who advised him to embark on litigation funding.
Their conduct has been reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.'
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