Case No. HT-11-503

30.It was Brit Inns’ case that the contractors, including SP Contracts, rendered invoices which Mr Barber then paid with a cheque. There were two difficulties with this. First, Mr Barber was plain that he did not go through each of the invoices and relied, he said, on what he was told by Mr Penny. Mr Penny’s evidence in relation to the invoices was very vague but he assured me on at least two occasions that he did not see all the invoices, let alone go through and check them. Accordingly, I find that invoices were considered for payment and/or paid without any check having been done on whether the work to which the invoice related had actually been performed. 31.Secondly, although the evidence was that Mr Barber paid all the contractors by cheque, copies of just two cheque stubs were provided to the defendants on disclosure. No bank statements of any sort were provided and there were no proper records of the many payments which, according to Mr Barber, he made in cash. It did not therefore follow that the fact that there was an invoice in the bundle meant that that invoice had actually been paid by Brit Inns.