Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell fined for breaching pensions law

Dominic Chappell, the former owner of collapsed retailer British Home Stores, has been fined almost £124,000 for breaking pensions law after the troubled department store fell into administration.

Judge Christine Henson QC, who presided over today's re-sentencing at Hove Crown Court, criticised Chappell for showing a "complete lack of remorse". He was ordered to pay a £50,000 fine and £73,900 in court costs.

Chappell was previously found guilty in January of failing to provide The Pensions Regulator with information about the company's pension scheme after buying it from Topshop's Sir Philip Green for just £1 in 2015.

At the time the entrepreneur was ordered to pay a £50,000 fine, £37,000 in costs and a £170 victim surcharge. He later appealed his conviction, but lost that battle in September. 

The department store collapsed just one year after being sold off by Green, accompanied by the loss of 11,000 jobs and a pension deficit of £571m. The Pensions Regulator began its investigation of the business shortly after the sale.

The pensions deficit was later plugged by Green, who was persuaded to put in £363m to cover some of the costs of the scheme after he was pictured living a lavish lifestyle on yachting holidays.

Chappell was reported to have blasted Green today in an emotional address, telling the court: "I'm not a Philip Green sitting on a £100m yacht in the south of France who writes a cheque for £350m to make the problem go away."

"I'm a victim of the circumstances that came out of British Home Stores. I wish to God we never got involved in it."