Former Charity Trustee Settles Claim Over Transactions With Collapsed Company...
Liquidators for Collapsed Hartlepool Company Accept £1,500 Settlement From Hartlepool Director, as another firms Finances Come under the Spotlight...
15th October 2026
A former trustee of Hartlepool’s Wharton Trust has reportedly been ordered to pay £1,500 to settle a Director Misconduct, claim after liquidators identified transactions made between him and his company that couldn't be accounted for, payments which the liquidator then later described as 'Misconduct' on the Part of the Director Himself.
Trevor Sherwood, who served on the board of the charity behind The Annexe community centre which is now reportedly under police Investigation, made the payment following an investigation into the affairs of a separate dissolved company Xilo News Limited.
The company entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation back in July 2024, with Companies House records identifying Sherwood as its sole director. A progress report later produced by liquidator Rikki Burton revealed that investigations identified transactions totalling £2,306.50, which led to Liquidators investigating the financial transactions made between the business & the payments made to its director..
Several Transactions Simply Couldn't be Accounted for !
The report stated that several transactions between the company and its director had been found which, in the opinion of the Liquidators constituted Misconduct on the part of the Director himself in the sum of £2,306.50.”
“Following several conversations regarding the matter, the director offered £1,500 to settle the claim. After a thorough review of the director’s financial circumstances, it was concluded that this was the best settlement figure that could be reached.” (Liquidators Report, Xilo News Ltd)
The liquidator confirmed that the £1,500 pound offer was accepted and the money received on the 1st of July 2025, with the settlement being £806.50 below the amount identified in the report.
The payment concerned Sherwood’s dealings with Xilo News Limited. It was not described as a settlement of a claim against The Wharton Trust, which is now subject to a police investigation surrounding issues which recent come to light over its accounts.
Xilo’s collapse left substantial recorded debts which were ultimately shouldered by the Tax Payer, payments which reportedly included £70,436 owed to Lilyanne’s CIC, another organisation of which Sherwood was listed as the director.
The company’s statement of affairs, dated 9th July 2024 and signed by Sherwood himself, listed total unsecured creditor claims of £95,936. Alongside Lilyanne’s CIC, it recorded £25,000 owed to National Westminster Bank and £500 to Opus Energy. Lilyanne’s CIC represented almost three-quarters of those recorded debts, however, the statement fails to explain how its claim arose. Despite the £1,500 settlement, the liquidator’s report said no payments had been made to creditors during the reporting period, which ended on the 22nd July 2025.
Total receipts stood at £5,100. That included the settlement and a separate £3,600 contribution from the director to fund the liquidation.
The liquidator stated that insufficient funds had been realised to make a distribution to any class of creditor at that stage. The report was an interim update and does not establish the final amount, if any, ultimately recovered by creditors.
Sherwood remained a director of Wharton Trust until his departure from the charity back in December 2025, according to Companies House, having joined its board in July 2017. His settlement with Xilo’s liquidator took place while he was still serving as a trustee for thre now Troubled Hartlepool Charity, with the findings only emerging following The Wharton Trust’s announcement that concerns about its accounts, governance and operations had been reported to police and the Charity Commission.
Xilo's documents do not establish that the misfeasance claim formed any part of the police investigation currently encompassing the Wharton Trust. Nor do they identify Xilo as the recipient of a separate, unexplained £10,000 payment as highlighted in The Wharton Trust’s accounts which the Teesside & Durham Post understands is currently part of the ongoing police investigation.
What the findings have unearthed is that Xilo’s liquidator identified a £2,306.50 claim concerning transactions with its director, who at the time, was associated with the trusteeship of the Wharton Trust, where Sherwood accepted a £1,500 to settle the Misconduct Claim after liquidators reportedly reviewed the Directors financial circumstances, with the Investigation into the Wharton Trust's accounts now likely to splinter off into the activities of businesses past or present which were associated or affiliated with the trust, as the complex financial investigation continues.
