There are rumours Bembridge Harbour may soon be up for sale.
THE owner of Bembridge Harbour was this week released from jail after an outstanding fine of more than £220,000 was paid.
Amid increasing rumour that the harbour — but not its surrounding land — may soon be up for sale, Endon Barry Blatch appeared in court on Friday and spent the weekend in jail after failing to meet the two-year deadline to pay the money.
Blatch, 62, from Shoreham, West Sussex, was originally threatened with five years jail if he did not pay almost £1 million after breaching court orders.
He won a subsequent appeal reducing the amount to £221,109.81 with three years’ prison in default.
He had pleaded guilty to six counts of breaching an order disqualifying him from being a company director in relation to several companies, including Bembridge Harbour Improvement Company.
The action was brought following a probe by the Department of Trade and Industry into Blatch’s business activities.
The Court of Appeal ruled on June 26, however, the confiscation hearing in December 2007, had not properly calculated the amount of financial benefit to Blatch from breaching the orders.
He appeared before magistrates at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on Friday, where he was sentenced to 934 days in prison and released on Monday after the fine was paid.