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Emma Pinfold, part 2: Bagatha Christie, "trolls", defamation threats, and more

Table of contents

Since the publication of my previous article on Emma Pinfold and her various companies, a number of things have happened:

What a wild ride, it seems. Let's dig into each point as we go.

Bagatha Christie

I am pleased to be able to report that a seller was successful in getting her missing bags back, although she is still owed money by Ms Pinfold too that has failed to materialise despite repeated promises. Last week, the seller attended the "secure storage facility" by appointment with Ms Pinfold. The entire meeting was recorded. Ms Pinfold has claimed that the seller "threatened" people there, but the recording proves that to be a lie.

At some point, the police were called for advice as Ms Pinfold failed to turn up and nobody was at the "secure storage facility", but eventually Ms Pinfold's husband turned up. It's not clear what advice was given, but the seller was able to get her missing bags back. When Ms Pinfold's husband turned up, he blocked the seller's car in so the seller was unable to leave. He would later go on to claim that he felt "threatened" by the seller and promptly hid from the seller for some time inside the "secure storage facility", before eventually coming out.

When the seller was given her missing bags back, these were provided in a massive Sports Direct-style shopping bag. According to the seller, the bags had suffered damage while in Ms Pinfold's care, had missing tags, no dustbags, and no documentation. All of this had been provided by the seller originally and photographs of the bags taken by the seller before she handed them over to Ms Pinfold to sell on show that the bags were in relatively immaculate condition. Ms Pinfold has denied being responsible for any of this. She has claimed the seller is responsible for the damage, and that actually the bags received a "touch-up spa treatment" before being handed back, that the seller is lying about the tags. and that the dustbags and documentation were never provided in the first place.

The seller is still owed several thousand pounds by Ms Pinfold and is preparing to file a case in the small claims court.

An update from the liquidators of Bond Street To Your Street Limited

The liquidators issued a progress report on the state of the liquidation subsequent to my initial reporting on the matter. They indicated that the list of creditors has been updated to correctly reflect all of the individual creditors that Ms Pinfold conveniently, mysteriously, no doubt accidentally, left off when the initial liquidation documents were filed. They also reported that a confidential report about the company and its directors had been filed with the Insolvency Service, and have confirmed that they have instructed solicitors to compel third parties to provide information relevant to progressing the liquidation. I await further updates from them in the future.

Strike-off action suspended for Bond Street Boutique Limited

Bond Street Boutique Limited was facing proposed strike-off fromCompanies House for failing to file the required annual confirmation statement on time. However, this has now been suspended until December 2024 after creditors to the company successfully objected to Companies House. This will allow creditors to take action against the company and, potentially Ms Pinfold herself depending on her actions during her time as the company's sole director.

Ms Pinfold's threats to sellers and customers

Since my previous reporting, Ms Pinfold has gone on the attack to sellers she owes money or the return of goods to. She has claimed she is going to sue one customer for £5,000 for "defaming" her by claiming she sold the customer a fake Burberry bag. She's also threatened the seller (above) who was able to retrieve her belongings, and numerous other people for allegedly "defamatory" comments. She has repeatedly claimed that her godfather is a barrister at chambers in Maidstone, but quite how the threat of various expensive legal actions squares up with her assertion that she fully intends to pay people back on payment plans in chronological order alongside a threat to simply close down her business and walk away from it all, is anyone's guess. She has repeatedly claimed that her priority is paying back people and ensuring they receive their missing goods, but her actions indicate the opposite at the moment.

Ms Pinfold has also demanded extensive evidence from customers who report she sold them counterfeit goods. In one extreme example, she demanded a full detailed report costing £60 to be paid for by the customer and demanded it no later than 5pm that day otherwise she would commence legal action for "malicious communications" and defamation. It is unclear why this extra evidence is needed when the goods have already been authenticated by experts as being fake, and that evidence has been provided to her by the custome. In my opinion, any reasonable retailer would commission the report at their own cost and work with the customer to find a solution.

The unknown spammer

An unknown person has been spamming customers from Ms Pinfold's private WhatsApp selling group with text messages alleging that Ms Pinfold is a scam artist and linking to my previous reporting on this site. It's not clear who is responsible for this. While I have circumstantial evidence suggesting who could be behind it, I am currently unable to publish that evidence because of the risk of a potential defamation claim being lodged.

The "secure storage facility"

In an email sent to customers after moving out of her High Street store, Ms Pinfold claimed that all items would be "securely stored in a dedicated facility with round-the-clock security measures in place". That, it transpires, is untrue. While I will not go into detail about the location of the "secure storage facility", I can confirm that it does not appear to have "round-the-clock security", that there is photographic evidence of goods being strewn across the storage area that at least one seller was able to confirm contained their goods, that no evidence of appropriate insurance for the storage of these high value items has been provided by the business, and that several sellers have since made immediate arrangements to attempt to collect their goods as they're worried about the state their goods are being held in.

No tax, no MOT, presumably no insurance

Ms Pinfold and her husband have been spotted locally driving around in an untaxed black Jaguar with no MOT and presumably no insurance. Kent Police have been notified repeatedly whenever they are spotted, and have since apparently placed a marker on the car so if they are encountered by the police, they will be pulled over and appropriate enforcement action taken. As you know, driving a vehicle without a valid MOT, without tax, and presumably with no insurance are all separate criminal offences. The tax was due on 1st May 2024 and the MOT expired on 17th May 2024. As of 4th July 2024, the vehicle remains untaxed and without an MOT.

An alleged "hacking"

Ms Pinfold has alleged to her customers via email that her bank account(s) and her shop website have both been "hacked". She has not provided any evidence of this and it is unclear who would have the ability and motive to hack her bank account(s) as well as her shop. It is believed that her shop was taken offline by Shopify because she failed to pay the bill. The shop has since been restored. The bank account(s) were not hacked; what Ms Pinfold appears to be referring to is the analysis of Bond Street Boutique Limited's company bank account statements which she released as part of publicly available papers in a since-settled county court claim with a creditor under CPR 5.4(C).

More victims come together

As news of Ms Pinfold's business dealings have spread on social media by reviews and comments made by her creditors, more victims are discovering each other and realising they were not the only ones impacted by Ms Pinfold's actions. Some have reported being owed tens of thousands of pounds, others have reported trying to ask about their missing goods only to be blocked across all social media platforms and emails and phone calls to go unanswered. The number of victims has surpassed 100 now and the amount owed to them is equally staggering.

Further media interest

The BBC have expressed an interest in covering this story and have been in touch with victims. Ms Pinfold has since attempted to contact the journalists in question directly through Facebook and other personal social media which has been rejected by those journalists and redirected to official channels such as email. Ms Pinfold, as I understand it, has failed to respond to the questions put to her over email by those journalists and instead has gone on a rather bizarre campaign of insisting, in emails sent to her customers, that the journalists are "lifelong family friends" of hers, and insisting that the BBC have absolutely no intention of covering her at all.

What happens next?

It's anyone's guess what happens now. Ms Pinfold has hit out at her victims, saying they are all "trolling" her and making it impossible for her to carry on trading in an attempt to pay back the money she owes, while some victims have had success in retrieving their goods and being paid their money. Others are preparing to launch civil claims against Ms Pinfold and her businesses, and are spreading the word about their experiences with her despite her repeated threats of legal action.