Financial investigations ongoing into companies linked with double skydiving tragedy

THE man who organised a skydiving jump on the Blackdown Hills above Wellington in which two people died last year has since been made bankrupt.

Jason Farrant, aged 55, was the sole director of Skydive Buzz, which ran the UK’s highest parachuting jumps from Dunkewell Airfield.

Skydiving instructor Adam Harrison, aged 30, and his pupil Belinda Taylor, aged 48, died making a tandem jump from 15,000 feet when their parachutes failed to deploy properly.

Mr Farrant later said he would wind up Skydive Buzz and sister company Wingwalk Buzz, which also operated from Dunkeswell.

However, Skydive Buzz has continued as an active company listed by Companies House while Wingwalk Buzz and two other associated firms, Skydive UK and Aviator Coffee Bar and Restaurant went into voluntary liquidation.

Now, it has been revealed by administrators that Mr Farrant, who was sole director of each of the companies, has been declared bankrupt.

The administrators also said creditors owed a total of £1,580,675.55 would receive little if any of their money back.

Wingwalk Buzz administrator Jon Mitchell, of Westcotts Business Recovery, Exeter, said a confidential report on the conduct of Mr Farrant had been submitted to the Insolvency Service.

Mr Mitchell said he discovered that one of the company’s two wing walking aircraft had been sold for £125,000 a month before the administration started and the money transferred out of the bank account to an ‘associated company’ and then into a ‘trust account’ and used to repay a £90,000 director’s loan.

The aircraft had been sold just one month after the double skydiving tragedy without the knowledge of administrators who were due to start work four weeks later.

Of the sale proceeds, £25,000 was initially repaid followed later by a further £65,000, with the other £35,000 used to pay other company liabilities, including landlord’s rent and historic hangarage fees.

Mr Mitchell said he was eventually able to sell the second aircraft but more than £48,000 had to be used to clear a loan on it and further landlord hangarage fees.

He said Wingwalk Buzz was anticipated to be liquidated in November and creditors owed £854,012.13 would receive some dividend but it was not known how much.

Mr Mitchell said Aviator Coffee Bar was owed money by Skydive Buzz and Flyhigh Buzz but was unlikely to receive anything due to their financial positions.

He said unsecured creditors were owed £282,086.30 but there were not enough funds to pay any class of creditor and the company had already been wound up.

Steve Henson, of Castle Hill Insolvency Ltd, of Newton Abbot, joint administrator for Skydive UK, said he had submitted a confidential report to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 on the conduct of Mr Farrant.

Mr Henson said he had identified various transactions which would require further review.

He said creditors were not likely to receive any dividend, with the unsecured total owed totalling £444,577.12.