THE Lancashire Telegraph has challenged the owner of a care home which shut at six hours' notice to answer eight key questions over the closure.

The move came as it emerged that Prof Mohammed Iqbal Memon is listed as sole director of the company which owns the building that housed Astley House Care Home, Whitehall Road, Darwen.

After failing to obtain a comment from him on the closure on several previous occasions, the Telegraph hand-delivered a letter with the questions to the home of Prof Memon on Wednesday.

We gave him until 5pm last night to reply, but received no answers to the questions.

At 2pm last Tuesday the families of 15 women, many of whom were suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, were told that Astley House would close at 8pm.

Brightcrest Ltd, which ran the home, had ceased trading due to financial difficulties and is due to go into liquidation within a month.

Social Services found all the women temporary accomm-odation.

Yesterday we revealed that one of the residents, 84-year-old Alice Elsworth had since died, and that her family were calling for a post mortem examination in a bid to establish whether the stress of the closure contributed to her death.

Prof Memon is the major shareholder in Brightcrest Ltd. And now it has emerged he is listed as the sole director of the company which owns the building, Jason Management Ltd.

Martin Linton, of London-based insolvency practitioner Leigh and Co, which is handling the case of Brightcrest, said the building was owned by Jason Management Ltd.

According to documents from Companies House, Prof Memon is the sole director of Jason Management Ltd, which is registered as being based in Stantley Street, Liverpool.

Mr Linton said the amount owed by Brightcrest Ltd to creditors was just under £200,000 and £177,000 was due to the landlord of the building Jason Management Ltd.

The Lancashire Telegraph informed Mr Linton that Companies House had Prof Memon listed as owning Jason Management Ltd.

He said: "I am not going to express any implications that might have, but I am grateful for the knowledge.

"It is something that will have to be looked into."

Mr Linton said that Brighcrest was due to go into liquidation on Friday, June 22, when he is expected to officially become the liquidator.

A spokesman for the Commission for Social Care Inspection has said care homes had a duty to inform them if a business was likely to cease being financially viable within six months. But the spokesman said Brightcrest had not.

THE eight questions we asked:.

When did you realise the home was in financial trouble?

Why did it get into such problems?

What did you try to do and what help did you request to solve the financial problems?

Why did you not tell the authorities about the problems at the home?

Do you own the building and if so what is the site going to be used for now?

Why were residents given just six hours to gather their belongings and get out?

How do you respond to the death of Alice Elsworth?

What would you say to the relatives of residents who feel they have been let down and put in a vulnerable situation by your actions?