JOURNALISTS who lost their jobs when a newspaper company they worked for went bust are set to receive money they are owed after a near-three-year fight.

Former editorial staff at the Lyme Regis-based 'View From Newspapers' will receive notice pay settlements and additional payments after the final owner of the group, Duncan Williams, was declared bankrupt.

The money will be paid by the Insolvency Service after the Plymouth County Court ruling against Mr Williams, which means the government will step in to pay a proportion of what the former staff are owed.

Mr Williams purchased the company in January 2018 for just £1, 12 days after 26 redundancies were announced at the View From series.

A previous hearing ruled that Mr Williams, formerly of Poole, was liable for claims of staff still awaiting pay in lieu of notice, redundancy money and arrears of pay – rather than the previous owner Peter Masters.

Earlier this year, Mr Williams later unsuccessfully appealed against the decision.

Mr Williams said: “Having successfully completed software and media technology development whilst working for View From Newspapers Ltd, it is confirmed that the print journalists working for the company have now received their redundancy pay.

“It was never my intention to deny any journalist their pay, I simply objected to the court’s decision to make me personally liable for these debts when these should have been shouldered by a limited liability company formation.

“I am very pleased that my involvement with View From Newspapers was very far from wasted and that these technology innovations will be of lasting value to the fast-evolving hyperlocal regional news industries. This remains an important section of the wider news industry that I will always have an interest in and great deal of affection for.

He added: “I hope that the former employees of View From Newspapers will share in this good news and of course the confirmation that their notice pay has been granted by the Insolvency Service.

“I wish everyone well with their future careers, whether this be in print or digital journalism. We are living through a period of time where accurate and trusted news reporting has never been more important.”

The Insolvency Service made similar payments to those ex-employees who were due redundancy payments last year following an employment tribunal judgment.

However, many of the former staff had remained unpaid until this ruling, despite contributing hundreds of pounds in legal fees, because they had not been with the company for at least two years at the time of their dismissal.