BREAKING Print Week: Clyde of 'the Bonnie and Clyde of the print industry' is back with new websites
The trade magazine Print Week has revealed that half of the notorious duo known as 'The Bonnie and Clyde of the Print Industry' is back in business.
Trading as The Book Printer Neill Stuart Malcolm John of Barry in Wales has taken cash from publisher Lani Leigh and others while posing as an online printer.
Jo Francis writing in Print Week said that John is linked to more websites with "a remarkably similar appearance to those used by notorious print farmer Neill John, who was disqualified from being a director earlier this year."
She said: "Printweek has been in contact with author Lani Leigh, who paid Book Printer more than £1,000 over the summer for books that never materialised.
"Leigh said she was dealing with someone who claimed to be the area manager, and who said their name was ‘William Jones’.
"John, whose full name is Neill Stuart Malcolm John, has in the past used various aliases including 'Malcolm' and 'Stuart'."
She said that Leigh said excuses for non-delivery began a week after she had paid for her books.
She quoted Leigh as saying: “I had a book signing last weekend, I had to pull out. I have another one in America on Saturday I nearly lost all of that. But I was lucky to find a printer in Atlanta at the last minute. I want this guy to be brought to book, if not he will keep fleecing people.”
ICSM Credit helped bring down John earlier this year by supplying evidence to the authorities.
In May, the print farmer was disqualified from being a director for eight years while his other halfClair Hunnisett known as 'Bonnie' got six years.
Jo Francis noted that last week the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industry Strategy lodged a petition to wind up yet another print farming company where John was previously a director, Bookworld Ltd, formerly Printed Books Ltd.
She said: "The firm’s website, print-book.co.uk, bears a remarkable resemblance to multiple websites connected with John’s many previous ventures.
"It also contains the same ‘testimonials’ as tradebookprint.co.uk and greatbritishpublishers.co.uk. The testimonial pages across the three sites feature, without explanation, the logos of various high-profile brands including Bentley Motors, Chelsea FC, Swarovski, EA Sports and Walt Disney.The print-book.co.uk site also refers to ‘The Best Press’ another trading style associated with John. Its mission statement claims the firm has “a vast array of state of the art printing machinery in London and Antwerp”.There is no limited company name associated with the business. The terms and conditions link goes to a faulty webpage, mag-printer.co.uk."
Printweek attempted to contact Book Printer but received no response.
Previously Harry Mottram writing for Print Monthly gathered evidence for Action Fraud and Trading Standards of John's activities along with an open letter signed by scores of his victims.
IMPORTANT: The print farming firms named above are in no way connected to: Hampshire-based The Printing Press Ltd; specialist letterpress printer and bindery Book Printers Ltd of Finedon, Northamptonshire; Crewe-based The Printing House Ltd; UKPrint.biz, which is a trading name of Ruby Giraffe Ltd of Manchester; www.bookprintinguk.com which is run by Bonacia Ltd in Peterborough, or www.magprint.co.uk which is part of Stephens & George Print Group.