Wrongful trading case hangs over Rita Rusk

THE liquidator appointed to oversee the affairs of celebrity hair stylist Rita Rusk said she will consider whether to pursue a case of wrongful trading while insolvent.

Irene Harbottle of Glasgow firm WD Robb said she received papers on the case from interim liquidator Colin Hastings on Thursday and the issue will be among those to be investigated.

"Mr Hastings has listed various matters for the liquidator to review and I will certainly be looking at it," she said.

After running up 223,623 in trading losses in the three years to the end of 2008, Rusk found herself petitioned in Glasgow Sheriff Court last November for an unpaid tax bill. Hastings wound up the business last month and sold her salon in Hamilton together with the trading name 'Rita Rusk International' to a local couple.

In his report to a creditors meeting on 19 February Hastings said: "The company has been insolvent for many years prior to the period of review."

Rusk, whose clients included the Duchess of Kent and the actress Greta Scacchi, denied she had traded wrongfully. She still trades with her corporate lawyer husband Brian Dorman from a separate business in Glasgow's Great Western Road.