Northern Wreck's criminal CEO's pay to let you run your fingers through my hair old baldy shag bag's £1 Mn property empire and lucky young son's luck

Guy Basnett (P7 News of the World ) has a fascinating story about slim party loving, gym rat, gorgeous, brunette Amanda Smithson - readers will remember a post about this lady Sunday, June 22, 2008 Summer Lightning , who featured in the long runing saga of Northern Wreck - also a later one on Sunday, December 23, 2007 Applegarth the crook is adulterer as well - while he took his eye off the ball, somebody had their hands on his .

Imagine. We just thought she was the lucky lady from the rent to let, being shagged senseless by fun loving criminal and CEO Adam Applegarth - now 46 (another company asset going down ?) on his trips to Washington . She ...er...retired late 2007 to spend more time with her money and the well endowed shagger.

Now it appears the little vixen, whose slim beautifully toned ,sun kissed, supple, yet sinewy thighs have (so far) not been caressed by Lord Patel, has been shrewdly setting up and lining her little NEST egg - and we just thought she was on the nest!

1. May 2003 she checks in at the exclusive Wills Building in Newcastles trendy area for mistresses for a naughty £139,950 (we revealed this in this post)

2. September 2005 she splashes out on a mews house in the same super secure compound for a modest £193,000.

3. 3 months later December 2005 she pops open her purse for a spacious £187,000 pad on the trendy dockside Luxury apartments complex at Mariners Wharf - NE1 2BJ .
4. 6 days later Father Christmnas must have been busy because she laid out ... £155,000 for a bijou flatette in Otterburn Viallas in upscale Jesmond.
5. Six months later and again she is snapping up a delightful property in West Jesmond for a £150,500 family home (baby on the way maybe?) .

That is an eyewatering £816,500 ! In one 10 month period she spent £677,000 plus solicitors, etc., quite something for a well paid (ish) buy to let lady on £36K per annum less tax/NI/ Union subscriptions/ sexy underwear ... The News of the World says it's worth over £1 Mn now.

Checks on the Land Registry show that the sultry Smithson own all 5 properties (rumour has it she owns another) and unsurprisingly her mortgages are all with Northern Wreck which was run until September last year by her very well endowed mortgage king Adam Applegarth. It is also intersting that these transactions directly covered the period when the criminal CEO was unloading ALL his Northern Rock shares at the top of the market for £2.7Mn - he had sold on Lord Patel's birthday 25th Jan 2006 52,253 shares @ 957p = £500,061.21 and the next day 111,426 shares @ 957p = £1,066,346.82. So where does a girl who lost her job find the money to pay probably £7,000 a month mortgages, plus any capital costs, solicitors, Stamp Duty...??

She wasn't the only lucky one, Adam's son Gregory snapped up for a mere £329,000 a flat just doors away from her Mariners Wharf love pad she had bought just 10 days before !

Yes ... with the help of a Northern Wreck mortgage..

Nor was he the only lucky one - the Sunderland Cricket club whose shirts bear Northern Wreck sponsored logos from Northern Wreck received of £100,000 and agreed a £50,000 unsecured loan months before the crash. They are part of the Ashbrook Club.***

So who is the captain of the NUSC team that fields shagger and crook Adam Applegarth ? Well it's Greg Applegarth, (like his pic girls ? - more here) his son who has that pad handy for his dad's bit on the side. He is also the Northern Universities Students CCC Elite Newcastle representative (is he still a student ?) - you can e-mail him from here also

The News of the World say having taken his £2.2 Mn pension pot and £750K severance pay .." he is under investigation.."



***Ashbrooke is a mature residential area of tree lined avenues, elegant Victorian terraces and discreet mews set in the heart of the City of Sunderland. In the middle of this attractive area lie Ashbrooke Sports Club and Ashbrooke Social Club. Once known as "The Lords of the North" Ashbrooke's Victorian grounds have recently been revitalised ****under an ambitious scheme aimed at improving our facilities for both existing members and potential new members of the Club.

**** C/O Criminal CEO Applegarth and Northern Wreck's generosity ?sunderland.cricketclub@googlemail.com Phone 0191 5284536 if you want to ask.Dr. Grenville Holland is the Hon Treasurer and President of Cricket he also is the Welfare Officier and ensures the club matches the ECB Child Welfare Requirements (?)
Sunderland Cricket Club home to the baldy old crook Adam Applegarth criminal CEO of Nortehrn Wreck .. evidently used to going in on a sticky wicket..



Just pop postcode SR2 7HH into Google Earth or for her Mariners wharf love nest / property investment use NE1 2BJ

Obama wears jeans ! Makes a call on a mobile phone ! Amazing pictures

CNN are giggling like a bunch of 13 year olds because Barack Obama the dragoness slayer, boarded his plane from Downtown Palookaville wearing jeans. O My God !

The bright eyed and bushy tailed readesr may well have noticed in this grab from the world shattering clip that he is also making a mobile telephone call from an aeroplane.

This is a service which has just become available on flights within the USA. No surprises there then.

Those readers with a good memory might remember that there were a slew of people on 9th September 2001 who made mobile phone calls from their "hi-jacked" planes.

It may seem remarkable that it has taken 7 years of technical development to provide this aerial service .... unless of course the story behind every one of those alleged calls on 9/11 was totally fraudulent.

Bob Bennett and Northern Rock - a pattern emerges -Après moi le déluge

Those who heard Bob Bennett on Radio 4 "Today" programme yesterday may well be inerested in this interview he gave when he announced his retirement. We have not heard the last of Mr Bennet or his relationship with Mr Applegarth.

He described the then-chief executive Adam Applegarth as "an energetic, youthful, growth-orientated individual"."He was difficult to deal with and he was difficult to handle," said Bennett who described himself as a "safe pair of hands" in the City's view.

Northern Rock should never have gone to the Bank of England for emergency financing in August, Bennett said, suggesting it should have taken action to scale back its lending.
Asked if the management was to blame he replied: "Partially, .... yes".

Interview: Moving On – Bob Bennett, group finance director at Northern Rock
Clare Bettelley Finance Week - 18-Sep-2006
Northern Rock group finance director, Bob Bennett announced his early retirement today. He tells Clare Bettelley the reason behind his decision and his plans for life after Northern Rock.

Finance Week: You told Finance Week last year that you would “definitely” not retire before your 60th birthday, next May. What changed?

Bob Bennett : I will continue to be employed until May (He was then 60) . If you think about the results, it makes sense to do the year-end and for the new guy to start as early as possible in the New Year.

FW: Were you forced to go? (now why ask that ?)

BB: No. If we had recruited an external candidate, then possibly I would have gone earlier. Some new people do not always want the old guy around.

FW: How many internal and external candidates did the bank consider?

BB: Dave Jones was the only internal candidate - he was always seen as the clear internal candidate. Northern Rock has a fairly static strategy about what it wants to do. Dave is completely conversant with this.

FW: What have been the highlights of your 13-year tenure?

BB: I am a forward-looking kind of guy, not a nostalgic one. It is not the end of Bob Bennett.

FW: But what would you consider your achievements?

BB: I always wanted to be an accountant. If someone had said I would be a finance director of a FTSE 100 company, I would have been happy.

FW: Will you consider extra non-executive director roles in addition to your post at Greggs?

BB: If people see me of use, then of course I would.

FW: What projects will you leave unfinished?

BB: I will not leave anything unfinished; it is not my style. The Basel II project will continue. One of the things that I am pleased about is that I am not a megalomaniac. I see it as a relay race, and have ensured that Dave’s been involved with all big projects.

JC Flowers wo looked at a take over of NR briefly, included Bob Bennett in their managment team for ther take over.

See also Accountancy Age the Daily Telegraph also had what will be seen as a very prescient article on September 19th 2007 which mention BB's departure and the consequences.

The worst of all possible worlds = Northern Rock Directors allowed to carry on regardless

Resolutions 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were carried and resolutions 2, 3, and 4 weren't.

Consequently all the Directors proposed for re-election have been elected.

SRM and RAB Capital and their supporter's (?) resolutions were defeated with the exception of Resolution 1 (which only required a simple majority unlike the other proposals which needed a 75% majority vote) - so the Board cannot allot shares with a nominal value above £5 million without the approval of shareholders in a general meeting.

The three (narrowly) defeated resolutions therefore mean that the Directors are not hindered from selling more than 5 % of its assets,nor an imposed £5 Mn. annual limit on equity fundraising and an obligation to preserve the company's current share capital structure.

A perfect recipe for more prevarication, obfuscation, delay, confusion, payment of excessive fees to "advisors" loss of retail depositors and a virtual certainty that funds cannot be raised in the market either as straightforward loans or funny money bonds as proposed by Sacks of Gold wizards of City Finance.

Northern Wreck shares eventually closed 16 pct lower at 69-1/4 pence, valuing Northern Rock at about at 291 mln stg.

How anyone can say that a regular market in the shares is available is delusional , dishonest and mad - rumours swept the meeting before it started that Adam Applegarth (ex CEO and staff shagger) was present , dressed in drag , whilst this can be believed it cannot be confirmed.

"Events, Dear Boy" Part 7 : Gordon Brown admits meeting David Abrahams

At his Press Conference today Gordon Brown declares David Abrahams' money was not lawfully declared and will be returned.

Another fucking review of the system by Mr Whitty, a former high court judge Lord McCluskey and a former Bishop of Oxford.... which would not be necessary if Peter Watt , Matt Carter and Lord Triesman had been honest and obeyed the law.

An offer of money was made from Miss Kidd to his leadership campaign but was refused because they did not know her.

Gordon Brown, " .... is sure he may have met him but has no memory of these issues."

"I knew nothing of these issues which had built up".

He hung out Harriett Harman to dry and explained she can explain how she received proxy donations for her leadership... that will set the Press dogs off on her.

He actually said in answser to questions over whether Harman had broken the law, "my understanding is that is not the case, but it will be for her to answer and her campaign".

"I have confidence that the information that she's giving us is exactly accurate," he added.

Pressed further on the issue, the prime minister added that of course I've got confidence in Harriet Harman.She accepted a donation from a Miss Kidd without knowing what the source, what the agent, was that had brought about a donation," he added.


"Of course I've got confidence in Harriet Harman and she has done as both chairman of the party and leader of the Commons a very good job indeed"

Harriet Harman QC. MP. has confirmed that her campaign for the Labour deputy leadership unknowingly accepted money from a secret donor (Janet Kidd on July 4, 2007) . (Deputy leadership contender Hilary Benn (not a lawyer) also received funds from Abrahams, having turned down an offer to receive it in Janet Kidd's name.)

"We declined to accept the cheque because we felt that if Mr Abrahams wanted to make a donation he could do so in his own name and we returned the cheque," Benn said.

"I was completely unaware that Mr David Abrahams was making donations to the Labour Party nationally via others and that's the full story." he continued.

Apparently Mr Benn was advised by Labour party grandee and OAP (she is 68)Baroness Jay that the money was really from Mr Abrahams and it was sent back.... now if she knew, who else knew ? Baroness Jay of Paddington has told Sky News that she had no idea Mr Abrahams was also making anonymous donations to the Labour Party....of course not.(She was the Ambassador's wife who had a wild fling with Carl Bernstein one of the Watergate duo - did AIPAC contacts warn her off ?)

PS : The Crown Prosecution Service has been called in to give advice.

The CPS, whose job is to decide when prosecutions are brought for suspected breaches of the law, has held talks with the Electoral Commission, the official watchdog over party funding issues.

Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, ....Mr Ruddick, Mrs Kidd, Mr McCarthy and Mr Abrahams could face criminal charges for failing to provide information about donors - which carries a £5,000 fine or a maximum one-year jail sentence.

Mr Watt could also face prosecution because failure by a party to return a donation from an impermissible or unidentifiable source also carries a £5,000 fine or up to one year in prison.

Oh what a tangled web we weave

PS : Northern Echo article on "That" planning application.....here

” project is one of the first to get past a block by the Highways Agency of any further development on the A1.

Because the A1 is over-capacity, the Highways Agency has been using its powers to stall developments, particularly in the north of the region”

Well,well, well. I'll go to the foot of our stairs.

Curiously Northern Rock were involved in a similiar development on the A19 - BBC November 2005

"Work can now begin on a £120m business park on Wearside after the council came up with cash to improve the nearby A19.

The Rainton Bridge Business Park near Sunderland is expected to create between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs over the next seven years.

However, it was put on hold when the Highways Agency requested information on its impact on local trunk roads.

Sunderland Council has now pledged £400,000 towards improving the A19, so giving a green light for the park."

PPS Is Harriett Harman QC. MP the same HH whose hubby is Harriet’s hubby is Jack Dromey who was the Labour Party treasurer who was also kept in the dark about where the money was coming from?