Ed,
I'm not sure what the head was retorqued to. I got it serviced the week after i had bought it and my mechanic recommended retorquing it, which i got him to do. I'll have to ask him what he torqued it to. He has replaced a crapload of 7M gaskets so I'm sure he knows what he is doing. He really knows his stuff and gets most of his customers by word of mouth. He has more sports cars there than "normal" cars even though he doesn't advertise as a performance workshop. I highly recommend him to anyone in Newcastle.
As for it being "bloody unfortunate" I hear ya brother and very bad timing for me but I guess a BHG is never good timing. Lucky I have Mr Visa to help me out