A previous version of this headline referred to Mr Blair's business as 'failed'. In fact, the limited company was dissolved in December 2022 and the business restructured into that of a sole trader. We acknowledge that at the time of the limited company being dissolved it was profitable.
A disgraced former cop launched a crime-fighting business with the lover he was caught having sex with at a park and ride.
But Gareth Blair’s firm was wound up with less than £10,000 in the bank and just one client.
Gareth Blair, 52, was a chief superintendent when he was spotted having sex in broad daylight in a car park with Claire Makel, who at the time was married to former Hearts star Lee Makel.
Witnesses saw the pair naked from the waist up in the back seat of his Land Rover at the Hermiston Gate park and ride in Edinburgh in 2019.
Blair, who has retired from the police, pled guilty in 2020 to breach of the peace. The Record can reveal that weeks after being fined £750 over the charge, he set up GB (Scotland) Ltd – an anti-money laundering consultancy – with Makel. But it has now shut.
Blair said: “I have legitimately closed that limited company. I am still working but as a sole trader.
“I set up the business legitimately to do anti-money laundering but got all my work from a single client.
“HMRC closed a loophole to say if you get all your work from one area, you can’t be a limited company and should be treated either as an employee or as a sole trader. I get so much work from that one client I don’t have to go to any others to get work.”
He said he had filed “full sole trader accounts” in the last year but refused to name his client.
On Makel’s involvement in the firm, he said: “My partner was my secretary who did the admin work.”
Company accounts show the firm had £9695 in the bank 12 months after being formed and net assets of £13,122.
The company applied to be struck off and was “dissolved” on December 27.
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