Emma Sayers & Anor v John Charles Dixon & Anor
| Judgment Date | 30 July 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] EWHC 1886 (Ch) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Date | 30 July 2025 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
ICC JUDGE BARBER
Approved Judgment
Re John Charles Dixon
Neutral Citation Number [2025] EWHC 1886 (Ch)
BR 2016 000722
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
INSOLVENCY AND COMPANIES LIST
IN THE MATTER OF JOHN CHARLES DIXON (A BANKRUPT)
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE INSOLVENCY ACT 1986
Royal Courts of Justice
7 The Rolls Building
Fetter Lane
London EC4A 1NL
Date: 30/07/2025
Before :
ICC JUDGE BARBER
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Between :
(1) EMMA SAYERS
(2) JEREMY WILLMONT
(as Joint Trustees in Bankruptcy of the above-named Bankrupt)
Applicants
-and –
(1) JOHN CHARLES DIXON
(2) JANET MARIE DIXON
Respondents
AND
Claim Number BL 2023 000860
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
BUSINESS LIST (ChD)
BETWEEN
(1) EMMA SAYERS
(2) JEREMY WILLMONT
(as Joint Trustees in Bankruptcy of the above-named Bankrupt)
Claimants
and
(1) JOHN CHARLES DIXON
(2) JANET MARIE DIXON
Defendants
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ICC JUDGE BARBER
Approved Judgment
Re John Charles Dixon
Jonathan Lopian (instructed by Hill Dickinson LLP) for the Applicants/Claimants
Mr and Mrs Dixon appeared in person
Hearing dates: 7-9 and 12 May 2025
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely by email and MS Teams. It will also be sent to
The National Archives for publication. The date and time for
hand-down is 9.00 a.m. on 30 July 2025
.............................
ICC Judge Barber
1.The Applicants/Claimants (‘the Trustees’) are the joint trustees in bankruptcy of the
FirstRespondent/Defendant(‘Mr Dixon’). MrDixon was formerly amanaging
partner and UK head of tax for Ernst & Young (‘E&Y’), earning approximately £2
million per annum in the run-up to his departure. He was declared bankrupt on 30
August 2017 on the petition of HMRC in the sum of £627,302 presented on 14 July
2016 in respect of self-assessment tax, NICs, interest charges, surcharges and late
filing/late payment penalties for years spanning from 2009/2010 onwards. Mr Dixon
remains bankrupt, his automatic discharge having been suspended for non-
cooperation with the Official Receiver and for failure to attend his public examination
on 5 July 2018. The Trustees were appointed on 14 August 2018.
2.These proceedings relate to six declarations of trust (‘DoTs’) executed by Mr Dixon
on 9 September 2010, by which he purported to divest himself of all present and
future assets in favour of his wife, the Second Respondent/Defendant (‘Mrs Dixon’).
Since being made bankrupt, Mr Dixon has claimed that, by virtue of the DoTs, on 9
September 2010 he became, and has since remained, a man with no assets. He says
that any money which he may have had since execution of the DoTs has either been
held and applied by him on Mrs Dixon’s behalf, paid over to Mrs Dixon, or lent to
him by Mrs Dixon pursuant to a loan agreement entered at the same time as the DoTs
(‘the Loan Agreement’).
3.The Trustees maintain that the DoTs and the Loan Agreement are shams. Further or
alternatively, the Trustees maintain that the DoTs were transactions at an undervalue
entered by Mr Dixon for the purpose of putting assets beyond the reach of a person or
persons who may at some time make a claim against him, contrary to s 423 of the
Insolvency Act 1986. They seek declarations that the DoTs and Loan Agreement are
void and ineffective and orders setting aside the DoTs,along with consequential
orders.
4.The Trustees also challenge two property transactions entered into by Mr and Mrs
Dixon after the DoTs but prior to the bankruptcy order. These transactions relate to a
property in Barbados and a property in Cambridge.
ICC JUDGE BARBER
Approved Judgment
Re John Charles Dixon
5.The Dixons fully contest these proceedings.
The DoTs
6.The DoTs were as follows:
(1) A DoT relating to a six-bedroom house and three-bedroom cottage, known
as Pennymore House and Stable Cottage, in the village of Furnacein
Argyll, on the north shore of Loch Fyne, registered in the names of Mr and
Mrs Dixon on 19 July 2007 (‘the Argyll Property’). The Argyll Property
was sold in August 2017, a few weeks before the bankruptcy order, for
£600,000. The net proceeds of sale, totalling £126,156, were paid into Mrs
Dixon’s account at the Halifax in two tranches, on 4 August 2017 and 10
April 2018 respectively. Mr Dixon told the Trustees on 28 September 2018
that the property had been sold at a loss, but this was not the case.
(2) A DoT relating to an eight-bedroom period property with a swimming
pool, known as The Stonehouse, in Woolhope, Herefordshire (‘the
Herefordshire Property’). This was purchased in February 2006. It was
subsequently sold for £1.2 million, at a loss, on 20 July 2015. There was a
£105,283 shortfall on the outstanding mortgage which, together with
solicitors’ professional charges of £10,020,was covered by a payment
made by Mr Dixon from his account at the Halifax.
The DoTs referred to at (1) and (2) above are hereafter, ‘the Property
DoTs’.
(3) A DoT relating tochattels held at a rented apartment 506 Tea Trade
Wharf (‘the Chattels DoT’).
(4) A DoT relating to four specified vehicles (‘the Vehicles DoT’).
(5) A DoT relating to Mr Dixon’s capital account and undrawn profits with E
& Y (‘the EY Trust’).
(6) A DoT relating to what was described as Mr Dixon’s “residual estate”
(‘the RET’).
7.It will be helpful to look a little more closely at the terms of the EY Trust and the
RET at this stage.
8.The EY Trust read as follows:
‘DECLARATION OF TRUST
DATE:
BY: John Dixon of The Stonehouse, Woolhope, Hereford, HR1
4QR (the ‘Owner’)
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