Reading Prison: New owner in 'unusual' restraining order court case

The Ziran Education Foundation bought HM Prison Reading from the Ministry of Justice for £7 million in January, after the site had lay derelict since closing in 2014. 

In March, the foundation announced that it planned to turn the former jail into a museum and art-inspired hotel. 

The limited company's background has largely been shrouded in mystery following its purchase of the prison, which is a listed building and once imprisoned the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. 

Now Mr Channing Bi - the owner of the Ziran Education Foundation - has commented on an Irish High Court Case that named the business owner as a defendant last year. 

The case centred around the repayment of a €1 million loan that one of Mr Channing Bi's businesses had made to a building firm for the development of five detached homes in Inishannon, Ireland. 

Judge Eileen Roberts said there were several 'unusual' aspects to the case, including the fact that the borrowers were suing Mr Bi's business in order to repay the loan. 

The plaintiffs were also seeking a restraining order against Mr Dylan Bi - Channing Bi's son - after an alleged request for the building firm to organise a 'protest' outside a third-party business that also owed money to Channing Bi's business. 

The case also saw the defendants' solicitors remove themselves just days before the trial, due to 'non-payment of their fees', according to the case judgement. 

In her judgement issued last July, Justice Roberts said: "This is an unusual case where the plaintiffs - as borrowers - are suing the first named defendant -as lender - seeking to repay monies due and to have security released.

"The first named defendant - Golden Door is an Irish registered company - which has been trading as a commercial lender in Ireland since in or about 2018.

"There was no evidence before the court regarding Golden Door’s status as an entity regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

"One of the unusual aspects of this case is that although the first named defendant is a commercial lender, it has never produced a formal statement of account indicating the amount owed by the plaintiffs – indeed this position persisted right through the trial when this information was still not available to the court."

Street artist Banksy painted one of his distinctive graffiti images on the side of the prison after offering to raise £10m to buy the site, as part of efforts to turn it into an arts centre. (Image: NQ) Dylan Bi was named as the second defendant, with a dispute over whether he held any formal position within Golden Door, according to the ruling. 

Mr Barth O'Neill, director of the plaintiff firm, Dunboy Construction, gave evidence at the trial to allege that Mr Dylan Bi asked the plaintiff's to organise a protest outside the property of an unrelated third party who owed money to Golden Door.

Mr O’Neill was unwilling to accede to this request, and he recorded his concerns in writing to the deal's loan monitor. 

The loan monitor advised Dylan Bi by email to be cautious as 'this muddies the waters somewhat and it may be presented as coercion down the line if we don’t see this out the way I have planned', according to the court judgement. 

Dylan Bi gave evidence denying that he had ever made the request.

When Dylan Bi was questioned on cross-examination regarding the email, the judgement asserts that he 'did not provide a clear or credible answer – seeking to deflect the question or saying that he could not remember'.

Judge Roberts ruled that Golden Door was in breach of the loan agreement and that damages awarded to the plaintiff could be offset by the figure remaining on the loan. 

A restraining order was made against Dylan Bi, stopping him from 'threatening the plaintiffs, their officers or agents, or otherwise attempting to coerce or compel them to act for or on behalf of the defendants'.

Mr O'Neill was approached for comment but declined.  

A spokesperson offering comment on behalf of Channing Bi and the Ziran Education Foundation said that it had been a 'complex case'. 

The Reading Chronicle was invited by Mr Channing Bi to see inside the site - after years of laying empty - last month. (Image: NQ)

The spokesperson said: "The complex court case in Ireland involved another company owned by Mr Channing Bi.

"The case did not involve the Ziran Education Foundation at all, and is therefore of no relevance to the Prison Project. 

"The Ministry of Justice undertook lengthy and extensive due diligence during the course of 2023 before concluding the sale of Reading Gaol to the Ziran Education Foundation and Mr Channing Bi."

The statement also confirmed that the Ziran Education Foundation had not previously undertaken a development project like the one proposed for Reading Prison. 

The spokesperson said: "Reading Gaol is a unique site with an incomparable historic and archaeological legacy.

"Mr Bi purchased the site because he sees its potential to deliver many of the aspirations of the Ziran Education Foundation.

"As such there have not been any previous developments similar to this either by the Ziran Foundation or, to the best of our knowledge, anywhere else in the UK."

The Ziran Education Foundation has taken on a team of planning and heritage consultants ahead of pre-planning discussions with Reading Borough Council and Historic England, with a formal planning application expected next year. 

The spokesperson for the company said they were aware of the 'considerable local interest' in the future of the site, with meetings with the leader of the council and then local groups expected in the coming weeks.