Jane Goodfellow, 58, and Clare Watts, 54, from Somerset, were both handed suspended sentences at Taunton Crown Court after pleading guilty to running a company whilst Goodfellow was disqualified.

Goodfellow pleaded guilty to acting as a director while disqualified and carrying on a business under a prohibited name at Taunton Crown Court on 12 April. She was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, and 80 hours of unpaid work. She also saw her disqualification from being a director extended by a further 10 years.

Clare Watts pleaded guilty to carrying on a business under a prohibited name. She was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months and fined £200. In addition, she signed an undertaking disqualifying her from being a director for 7 years.

Jane Goodfellow was the director of Peaceflight Ltd when it went into liquidation in August 2003. An investigation found she was trading at the detriment of creditors and the tax authorities. She was consequently disqualified from being a company director for 11 years from March 2006.

In October 2013, The Yeovil Wine Vaults Ltd was incorporated with Clare Watts acting as sole director.

Following the company’s winding up in March 2017, the Insolvency Service started confidential enquiries into the conduct of the directors.

The court heard that Jane Goodfellow was acting as an unofficial director of the company. She was described as the ‘main decision maker’ by employees, signing company cheques, dealing with wages and taking responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the business.

Both Jane Goodfellow and Clare Watts were asked to attend an interview to explain their roles in the business but neither agreed.

Glenn Wicks, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Jane Goodfellow was well aware of the restrictions she faced as a disqualified director. Despite this, she played an important part in the running of The Yeovil Wine Vaults Ltd. While Clare Watts was listed as director, she let Jane Goodfellow act as one in all but name despite knowing of her lengthy ban.

This sentence shows that we will not hesitate to take action against directors who do not follow the rules when it is appropriate to do so and both defendants have been removed from the business environment for a lengthy period.

Jane Goodfellow is from Milborne Port, Somerset and her date of birth is March 1963

Clare Watts is from Milborne Port, Somerset and her date of birth is May 1967

The Yeovil Wine Vaults Ltd – company number 08752877

Jane Goodfellow pleaded guilty to one count of acting as a director whilst disqualified and one count of carrying on a business under a prohibited name.

Clare Watts pleaded guilty to carrying on a business under a prohibited name.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

I am calling on each and every one of you to think about how your work contributes to keeping our families, friends, and communities secure, safe, and prosperous – and to consider working with the organisation I lead, Dstl, to supercharge that effort.

In the starkest circumstances, coronavirus has demonstrated the crucial role that science and technology plays in keeping our loved ones out of harm’s way.

Likewise, the immense efforts of millions of people from across the nation – including everyone from the researchers developing vaccines to the technicians and analysts processing testing samples – has shown us what we can achieve at breakneck speed when we work together.

Post-COVID, we all have high ambitions for what our United Kingdom can achieve. And Dstl, the science inside UK defence and security, is at the forefront of that effort. The Prime Minister has set this country the challenge of securing science superpower status by 2030 – and we are accelerating our efforts.

As part of an unprecedented uplift to the defence budget, Dstl plans to spend in the region of an extra £1 billion with you over the next 4 years to tackle the threats we face beyond COVID-19.

These threats are many – from hostile states and terrorist groups through to global challenges such as pandemics and climate change. We’ll be advancing our work in artificial intelligence, cyber, space, autonomy and robotics, and casting our net further as we invest in emerging technologies of the future.

Dstl is a proven national asset – but we cannot counter the threats of the future alone. The world is changing, and we are changing with it.

Today, I am particularly calling on those who have not worked with us before to check us out and see how we can work together.

We need to harness the power of science, technology, engineering and innovation from across the private and academic sectors – from the individual inventor, to tech start-ups and beyond. As well as funding to fast-track your innovation, we offer access to our world-class scientists and facilities, the chance to work with the potential users of your technology, and the opportunity to make a difference by keeping our country safe and prosperous.

We are embarking on the most ambitious programme in Dstl’s 20-year history. The challenges are significant but if we get this right the rewards will be extraordinary.

I ask you to join us at our supplier event Supercharging Science on 22 July 2021 to hear more about our plans and the opportunities there are for you.

You can find out more and sign up to attend by visiting the registration site.

This is an incredibly exciting time not just for Dstl but for the whole UK science and technology community.

Together, let’s do something special.

Doug Umbers

Interim Chief Executive

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Hampshire Police is the first force in England to use a new management system for SJP cases. Anyone in the county responding to an SJP charge, such as a traffic offence, will be able to enter their plea digitally. This means they can resolve their case quickly, fairly and efficiently without going to court.

Emily Brown, Summary Justice Unit Team Leader at Hampshire Constabulary welcomed their involvement:

I’m delighted we’ve been chosen as the first force to deal with traffic offences using this new system. I can see immediate benefits and some real efficiencies for the police, as well as for our local citizens.

It will mean that when people are charged with traffic offences, like speeding or driving without insurance – and if they plead guilty – they’ll be dealt with efficiently and fairly by the justice system, with minimal delays.

It means our local courts can concentrate on those cases that really need to be there and for us, as prosecutors, we’re able to see and act on real-time results.

Single Justice Service

The service is responsible for administering single justice procedure (SJP) cases, delivered through the Common Platform, our new digital case management system. Support for users of the service is provided by the Courts and Tribunals Service Centre. It’s designed to enable HMCTS and our justice partners to manage and share criminal case information more effectively. It delivers greater transparency, consistency and faster case processing.

The SJP is an element of the Single Justice Service introduced in 2015, which allows a single magistrate to deal with adult, summary-only, non-imprisonable offences for ‘guilty’ pleas and ‘proof in absence’ cases (when a defendant has not responded to a charge). These cases account for about 850,000 of criminal cases per annum, which almost exclusively result in a financial penalty.

The magistrate, supported by a legal adviser, decides on these cases outside of the courtroom in the absence of the prosecutor and defendant. It allows those who plead guilty to resolve their case without going to court, minimises delay and frees up court time for those cases that need to be heard in court.

How it works

Hampshire Police’s traffic offence details will upload directly on to the case management system, gradually increasing volumes.

As soon as the defendant provides a guilty plea online, the system will prioritise their case. A plea may be dealt with immediately and defendants will no longer have to wait a minimum of 28 days for an outcome (for a fine, withdrawal or referral to open court), as is currently the case.

Postal pleas will still be an option and will go to a centralised unit and uploaded to the case.

All defendants can request an open hearing in court whether they enter a guilty plea or not guilty plea.

Our Courts and Tribunals Service Centre will support defendants and magistrates’ courts using the process, rather than queries going to individual courts. They will also allocate open hearings.

Future roll-out plans

We’re currently rolling out the Common Platform for other criminal cases to all criminal courts across England and Wales, and plan to have completed this process by the end of 2021.

It’s already being used by courts to process Transport for London, TV Licensing and DVLA SJP cases, for example:

• using a television without a licence
• failing to show a valid train ticket whilst travelling on a train service

We are planning to further extend the roll out to non-police prosecutors, including local authorities and transport companies over the next few months.

The overall system performance will be closely monitored, making sure everything works as anticipated, before gradually increasing capacity.