Writ puts Deep Blue all at sea

Waves may close over troubled dealer as it is rocked by legal action

Troubled chip dealer Deep Blue Technology is expected to go out of business after being served with a winding-up petition for non-payment of bills.

It emerged last week that a writ has been issued on behalf of peripherals vendor, Multichip, for a total of #13,800. The hearing is scheduled for 9 April.

According to Stan Bolden, Deep Blue?s accountant, the dealer will not be able to service this debt and, having no assets, will almost certainly fold. He blamed the firm?s troubles on the action taken against it by Wiltshire Police last year.

Deep Blue had an estimated #500,000 of memory goods seized by police under suspicion that the products might have been counterfeit.

Bolden said: ?A lot of smaller trade creditors get rather excited about small amounts like this. Unfortunately, the only assets we have are those held by the police and they won?t come back soon enough.?

Deep Blue failed to recover its goods from the police in June, when it applied to the Queen?s Remembrancer to force Wiltshire Police to hand everything back. Deep Blue also failed in its attempt to extract a damages payment of #1 million from the force.

Since Wiltshire Police swooped on Deep Blue on 30 April 1996, the reseller has lost both staff and customers. Bolden said all of the firm?s sales people had left the company and that managing director, James Willard, was now the only person looking after sales. He and Bolden are the only remaining staff at Deep Blue.

In January, Willard was among eight people charged with conspiracy to defraud and trademark offences. Bolden added that Deep Blue would go out of business despite the fact that all the charges related to individuals and not to the company itself.

Willard was unavailable for comment as PC Dealer went to press.