MPS are calling for government compensation for pensioners who lost out in the Bellings pension Fund swindle.

Burnley MP Peter Pike and Gordon Prentice, of Pendle, are also calling for the Department of Trade to launch a full inquiry into the events surrounding the collapse of the cooker company, which had a 300-worker subsidiary in Burnley.

Their moves follow the conviction of Charles Deacon and James Fuller on £13 million fraud charges.

They received long prison sentences after being found guilty of scams, which included persuading Belling directors to part with £2.3 million of pension fund cash to secure a £30 million loan to save the ailing company. The loan failed to materialise, the up-front cash never returned and the firm went into liquidation soon afterwards in 1992. Now the MPs have tabled a House of Commons motion which notes that further large amounts are also missing from the pension fund "where there has clearly been fraud and misuse of the fund."

After the company's demise, investigations revealed Belling directors who also controlled the company pension fund, had used millions of pounds of pension fund cash buying up one of the firm's own subsidiaries - a company which also went down in the liquidation.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.