A CHESTER jeweller has been disqualified from being a company director for five-and-a-half years.

John Stewart Nuttall, 49, has been hit with the lengthy ban following an investigation into his company, Nuttalls of Chester.

The Mollington-based firm sold jewellery on the internet but failed to meet orders and went bust in June 2011 with debts of more than £260,000.

Investigators from the Insolvency Service began looking into the history of the business and found Mr Nuttall had caused the company to trade when there was an unreasonable risk to, and to the detriment of, the public, while he knew or ought to have known the company was financially unviable.

His company, which began trading in 2005, took payment in advance over the internet for items of jewellery which it then failed to supply.

Between November 2010 and the firm going bust in June 2011, Mr Nuttall caused customers and credit card providers to lose at least £133,953. He has now been banned from being a director for taking payments for goods he knew, or ought to have known, he could not provide.

Robert Clarke, head of company investigations in Birmingham, said: “Directors who take money from the public for goods or services they know, or ought to know, they will not be able to provide, and especially over the internet where a degree of trust is vital, show a total disrespect for those members of the public and the business community generally.

“The disqualification order made in this case sends a clear message to other company directors that if they run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors, they will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment for a long time.”

Mr Nuttall has given an undertaking to the Business Secretary Vince Cable not to act as a director or in any way manage or control limited companies until December 2018.

Cheshire West and Chester Council was already investigating a number of complaints when the firm went into liquidation.