Flying Schools are like Restaurants, a fair proportion go bust on a regular basis. Anyone who puts money up front in the naive belief they are going to save money really deserves what they get. The only reason they offer you a discount is because its cheaper to borrow from the customer than from a bank. When the cash flow ceases the big boys call in their money and the little boys get none.
It was a limited company so the individuals move away to start up elsewhere, and they have! PS is just a scapegoat who generated a perfect smokescreen for the actual directors by virtue of his Walter Mitty character.
Put it down to a bad experience and don't ever put money up front again; even the CAA tell students not to do it. When a well known firm at Manston went bust a few years ago some students were owed up to £35K! And some had only paid it the week before. They lost it all!