Stuart James Garner (born November 1968) is a British businessman, convicted pension

fraudster In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensa ...

, and was the owner and CEO of the

Norton Motorcycle Company The Norton Motorcycle Company (formerly Norton Motors, Ltd.) is a brand of motorcycles, originally based in Birmingham, England. For some years around 1990, the rights to use the name on motorcycles was owned by North American financiers. From ...

from 2008 until it went into administration in 2020.

Early life

Garner was born in Derbyshire in November 1968. He left school without qualifications at the age of 16.

Career

He is a former gamekeeper, share trader and firework seller. He acquired the

in 2008. In 2013, he bought the 1790 Gothic

Donington Hall Donington Hall is a mansion house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing circu ...

and its 26-acre Donington estate from

BMI Airlines British Midland Airways Limited (trading at various times throughout its history as British Midland, bmi British Midland, bmi or British Midland International) was an airline with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close to ...

, and it became the Norton head office, as well as his family home. In June 2020, the Pension Ombudsman ruled that as a pension scheme trustee, Garner had "acted dishonestly and in breach of his duty". In December 2020, he was refused permission to appeal against the Pension Ombudsman's ruling that he must pay back £14 million missing from the Norton pension fund. Garner has also had a personal bankruptcy petition filed against him by

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

Personal life

In 2016, he bought the Priest House Hotel, adjacent to the Donington Hall estate, on the banks of the River Trent. Garner married Susie Lodge in summer 2018, and has three children from a previous marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Stuart Living people 1968 births People from Derbyshire British chief executives British fraudsters