A convicted fraudster who once sold ‘sex gels’ has left Birmingham law firm Martineau with a hefty unpaid bill from his latest venture selling nicotine replacement products for smokers.
Havilland Manufacturing, run by Dr John Walters, sold a gel containing nicotine which, when rubbed in to the hands, promised to give “cigarette satisfaction for hours and hours”.
Walters is also listed as a secretary for a company named Viagel, which claims aphrodisiac and Viagra-style properties using “a novel combination of herbal extracts and the amino acid Arginine” when applied to the stomach.
Havilland, formerly known as Nicogel, has not filed any accounts with Companies House since 2006, and has been a client of Martineau since it was founded in 2004.
But now the Colmore Square law firm has resorted to issuing a winding up petition in a bid to get what it is owed.
Tom McGuire, partner and member of the IT and intellectual property team at Martineau acted as company secretary for the firm before resigning last month.
He said: “I was made company secretary of Havilland Manufacturing Ltd as part of the service Martineau offers its clients, as it was until recently a legal requirement to have a company secretary, in fact I currently act as company secretary for about another 30 companies.
“My involvement with the company was minimal, with the legal advice delivered by our corporate team focusing on restructuring the company to create a new holding company to protect its intellectual property rights – hence the name change.
“It would appear the company experienced serious cashflow problems and as yet, Martineau has not been paid for the legal services it provided.
“Martineau issued the winding up petition to try and recoup the fees of around £12,000, but this is being handled by our debt recovery team; it’s not my area of expertise.”
Martineau is not alone in chasing Walters for money, several business partners around the country have come forward to say they have also been left out of pocket.
Nicogel, which according to analysis by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contained just 0.003 per cent nicotine, was branded as a solution to the UK smoking ban which came in 2007.
When the product was launched, Walters – who had previously toyed with the idea of a nicotine shampoo – was hailed in the press for his innovation and the company had distribution deals with major supermarket retailers in the UK, as well as a US distributor.
Walters is also known as John Anthony Bott-Walters – and even gives the title the Honourable Dr Bott-Walters on an annual return of one of his other businesses filed at Companies House.
He has a portfolio of previous companies marketing medical “wonder products,” including a firm named TAGG NPD.
TAGG NPD was involved in the production of a high-energy drink billed as a drug-free hangover cure named Get Up & Go but was put into administration in 2001 with over £1 million in debts.
It was Walters’ dealings at this firm which saw him hauled before Ipswich Crown Court in 2004, where he was jailed for 10 months after extracting almost £200,000 from a customer to hire a subcontractor to produce the drink, despite there never being any realistic prospects of production.
Martineau’s winding up petition served on Havilland is due to be heard at Birmingham District Registry on Wednesday, April 14.
