marksp - I do take you as a serious poster, that is why I was interested in your view that Lambert might be real.
I can make a pretty good guess as to the targets of TMWNN's actions, quite enough to allow me to wish him well - even if he has said some things in anger which would be better unsaid.
There is unquestionably a case to answer for negligence on Pearson's part. Whether that case could be made is less clear, I accept. He did not have benefit of hindsight as we do. But he did meet the purported BoB representatives in irregular circumstances and he did fail to follow up that meeting with a routine letter to the manager of the BoB addressed to the bank's offices.