{"id":548875,"date":"2026-04-24T20:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548875\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:28:09","slug":"update-after-uks-scariest-debt-collector-takes-liverpool-charity-to-court-for-25k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548875\/","title":{"rendered":"Update after UK’s ‘scariest debt collector’ takes Liverpool charity to court for \u00a325k"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dispute related to an alleged agreement for ‘consultancy services’ charged at \u00a31,500 per month\"Shaun<\/p>\n

Shaun Smith in 2018(Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)<\/p>\n

A company owned by the UK’s ‘scariest debt collector’ took a charity to court, after claiming it owed more than \u00a325,000 in ‘consultancy services’. The hearing took place this afternoon, Friday April 24, at Liverpool County Court relating to a claim made by Shaun Smith Enterprises Limited (SSEL) against a registered charity called Eldonian Community Trust Limited (Eldonian charity).<\/p>\n

SSEL’s sole director is a person named Shaun Smith, 60, the point of contact for the claim, represented by barrister Harry East during a telephone hearing, which also included District Judge Louise Metcalf, and the Eldonian charity’s legal team of Daniel Crowley and Paul Currie.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith gained a degree of celebrity back in 2013, after a Vice News documentary called him the UK’s ‘scariest debt collector’. Since then, he’s also featured in a 2018 Netflix documentary called Bare Knuckle Fight Club.<\/p>\n

On May 21, 2025, SSEL made a money claim against Eldonian charity for \u00a325,500, a fee relating to an alleged ‘consultancy’ agreement.<\/p>\n

The claim form stated: “By an Agreement dated 18th April 2023 made between the Defendant and the Claimant (‘the Agreement”) the Claimant employed the Defendant to provide Consultancy Services at the rate of \u00a31,500 per month.<\/p>\n

“On 23rd October 2024 the Claimant submitted an invoice to the Defendant in the sum of \u00a325,500 for services rendered by the Claimant to the Defendant pursuant to the Agreement.<\/p>\n

“The Defendant has failed to pay the Invoice and the Claimant seeks a Judgement for the amount of the Invoice.”<\/p>\n

After submissions were made by the legal representatives of both SSEL and the Eldonian charity, District Judge Metcalf dismissed the Claimants application in full, and awarded fixed costs against SSEL.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued after the dismissal The Eldonian Community Trust said: \u201cThe current Board of Trustees, appointed in 2025, has approached these proceedings with a clear focus on protecting the interests of the charity and the community it serves.<\/p>\n

“We welcome the Court\u2019s decision, which provides certainty and allows the Trust to continue its work without the burden of ongoing litigation in this matter.<\/p>\n

“The Trustees wish to place on record their sincere thanks to Daniel Crowley, at 2 Temple Gardens, and Paul Currie of Liverpool Legal Limited for their professionalism and support throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maureen Price, Vice Chair of the Charity added: \u201cI\u2019m really pleased to see this resolved. It gives us the space to move forward and focus on what truly matters, our community.”<\/p>\n

She added: “There\u2019s a renewed sense of positivity, and I\u2019m looking forward to what we can achieve together next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dispute related to an alleged agreement for ‘consultancy services’ charged at \u00a31,500 per month Shaun Smith in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,1343,59,2347,56,54,55,18637],"class_list":["post-548875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-courts","tag-gb","tag-liverpool-city-centre","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vauxhall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}