There has been another twist in the protracted boardroom battle between Big Technologies and its founder Sara Murray OBE.
The company – trading as Buddi – has this morning announced the retirement of Ian Johnson (pictured) from the board, with Charles Lewinton appointed as acting CEO.
Big is currently suing Murray for hundreds of millions of pounds after accusing her of forgery and deliberate falsification of documents to push through the company’s £577m IPO in 2021. Murray was dismissed as CEO in March 2025 over the accusations, and her assets have been frozen amid the subsequent and ongoing £320m High Court battle.
She continues to hold 25% of the voting rights in the firm and last week was successful in removing Camilla Macun as a non-executive director at its AGM. She and her supporters however failed to remove three other directors.
Astonishingly Big Technologies published two sets of AGM voting results – the official results, with Murray’s votes included, and an unofficial set where they were not taken into account. Macun would have been returned to the board with a 72% majority, they claimed, had Murray’s votes not been taken into account.
CityAM reported Murray’s response: “I do not understand the pointless and irrelevant presentation of results excluding my votes as I am the founder and own 25% of the company and the board needs to start dealing with this reality.
“It is time to return this business to being the brilliant company I founded and built.”
The London-listed firm reported a drop in annual revenue and EBITDA in January after agreeing a £38.5 million settlement with disgruntled former investors.
The backdrop
Murray – who founded and sold comparison website Confused.com earlier in her entrepreneurial career – launched people monitoring specialist Big Technologies in 2005. It provides the Buddi electronic tagging system to the prison service, among other products.
She led a management buyout for £12.3m in 2018 and the five former shareholders in the firm brought legal action against it, claiming they had been forced to sell their holding during the MBO and were therefore denied the opportunity of cashing in from the float.
Big Technologies initially denied the accusation but, following its accusations against Murray, recently accepted it. It said late last year that the potential forgery could “materially adversely impact the position of the company in the… litigation [brought against it by the former shareholders]… [we] are unlikely to be able to successfully defend material elements of the claim”.
It agreed to pay £31.5m immediately and a further £7m in 18 monthly instalments.
Murray has claimed that the five shareholders have been bankrolled behind the scenes by her ex-husband Michael Jackson, former chairman of software giant Sage, whom she split from in 2009. Both the former investors and Jackson denied this accusation.
The voting rights in Big Technologies of several companies with ties to Murray were suspended in June 2025 after Big served legal notices which accused her of failing to disclose interests in the entities, which collectively held 17.3% of its shares, and also of providing false information during the company’s 2021 IPO. The accusation is that she used offshore shell companies to push out minority shareholders.
Murray – who was once appointed to the technology strategy board of Gordon Brown’s Labour government – told CityAM she has legacy family connections to the offshore trusts but denied being directly involved in them. Together they controlled around two-fifths of the company’s share capital prior to the AIM flotation.
The Rickmansworth-based firm alleges that Murray also improperly diverted significant funds from the group prior to 2019.
Twists
In a twist in late 2024, Murray succeeded in ousting Big Technologies chairman Alexander Brennan in a shareholder revolt and managed to get James Graham Matheson added to its board.
Sangita Shah took over the role on an interim basis and remains in post today.
Johnson joined the board in April 2025 and was made CEO in the following month. However he has now decided it is time to step aside, with a formal search process now being conducted for a permanent successor.
Lewinton joined the business pre-IPO, 14 years ago, and has served as COO, CTO and VP Americas during his time with the group.
He has recently overseen significant growth in the Americas, with US ARR growth at 40% in 2025, supplemented by this year’s large contract win in Chile. He has also overseen the release and certification of the group’s latest AlcoTag and AlcoBreath products.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Ian for his work in providing stability and leadership to the business during a turbulent period,” said interim chair Shah.
“Ian has achieved what he set out to do and more: a restructured business yielding growth whilst maintaining resilience at a challenging time. The management of the group has been strengthened and repivoted, driving performance through accountability and performance management.
“I am delighted that Charles will assume the role of acting CEO whilst a formal search process is conducted. Charles is tireless in his commitment to driving the business forward and has an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and experience with the group’s activities.
“Charles has also demonstrated his calibre during the turbulent period for the group in early 2025, ensuring the group’s operations continued seamlessly.
“I look forward to working with Charles more closely to build on the good work that he and Ian have overseen since the middle of 2025.”
Johnson said: “I am delighted to see Charles step up to the acting CEO position. Charles and I have worked closely since I joined the board in April 2025, and he is exceptionally well suited to assume these responsibilities.
“I am proud of our achievements over the past year, not least returning the business to growth and increasing contract momentum. Big Technologies and Buddi is a fantastic business with great prospects ahead. I wish the team well and look forward to watching the group go from strength to strength.”