Ex-Norton bikes boss Stuart Garner illegally used pension millions to keep business afloat

The man who saved Norton Motorcycles only to see it fall into administration amid accusations of dishonesty and bad practice has pleaded guilty to illegally putting millions of pounds of outside investor’s pension funds into the failing business.

Stuart Garner rescued the historic bike brand in 2008, opening a factory in Castle Donington on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border and developing the 961cc Norton Commando and a new range of Norton motorcycles. As sales grew, it expanded its workforce to around 100 and launched plans for a national training academy.

But by 2019 the business was in dire straits, pulling funding campaigns and facing winding up petitions from the taxman over hundreds of thousands of pounds of unpaid taxes.