Chappell ‘couldn’t cope’

FOrMer BHS owner Dominic Chappell told a court he was swamped and ‘couldn’t cope’ when he was asked to hand over documents to the pensions watchdog investigating the collapse of the retailer.

He bought BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 a year before it collapsed, and is appealing after he was convicted of failing to supply information to The Pensions regulator.

Chappell, 51, told Hove Crown Court: ‘i did everything in my power, i spent hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of pounds to help.’ He added: ‘i believed i acted in a proper and accurate way. i was drowning in paperwork. i couldn’t cope with the amount of paperwork going on.’