EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Art dealer's withering verdict on Petra Ecclestone's ex James Stunt
But I can disclose that perhaps the most impeccably informed of Stunt's old acquaintances disagrees.
New York art dealer Ezra Chowaiki, released from a US prison in 2020 after a 13-month stretch for fraud, first met the self-styled gold bullion dealer one weekend in 2015, when Stunt was still married to Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone.
What followed was so extraordinary that it helped spur Chowaiki into writing an eye-popping expose of the art world, the basis for a documentary now in development.
'Even within the absurd circus that is the high-end art world, Stunt stood out as a master clown,' Chowaiki tells me from New York, recalling their first encounter during which Stunt asserted that his Rolls was 'the only truly bulletproof car in England' and 'worth £1 million'.
At his Mayfair office – which resembled 'something between Miami Vice and Succession' – Stunt reached into a safe, threw an object into Chowaiki's lap and asked: 'Do you know how much that's worth?' It was a gold ingot.
Chowaiki then offered Stunt a painting. It was, aptly, a clown by Salvador Dali, priced £1.16million.
Stunt responded by getting out his phone, showing Chowaiki two paintings by French artist Georges Braque and saying that he'd trade them for the Dali and $1million.
Saying that he'd think about it, Chowaiki left London.
In the following week, he alleges, he was 'hounded' by Stunt, who now offered the Braques for the Dali plus $500,000, and sent a series of 'increasingly deranged and voluminous texts'.
Chowaiki insisted that Stunt send him photos of the Braques in their frames.
'The images he had sent could have been scanned from books,' reflects Chowaiki, who says that he had severe doubts about the authenticity of one of the paintings in particular.
He had one last exchange with Stunt, who lent several paintings to Dumfries House – saved for the nation by King Charles – only for it to emerge that a number of them were fakes.
Called by Stunt, who was seeking guidance about how to have the Picassos in his collection authenticated, Chowaiki explained that they should be submitted to Picasso's son, Claude.
He recalls that Stunt asked in a 'hushed' tone: 'Do you think Claude could be...influenced?'
The comment (presumably a joke) made Chowaiki laugh, he recalls, before he explained to Stunt that Claude 'would never compromise himself'.
A source close to Stunt says that the visit to his office couldn't have happened as he did not have access to his office at weekend.
Doubtless Stunt is speaking in good faith, besides which, as his former butler, John Gilmour, told the Mail On Sunday last month, he frequently enjoyed Sunday lunch with his godfather, convicted crime baron Terry Adams.
But one wonders if he has failed, in this instance, to take into account his past cocaine addiction and the consequent damage that it might have done to his memory.
Chowaiki's texts for the weekend in question unequivocally show that Stunt asked to meet him on September 27, 2015.
The source additionally insists he did not toss a gold ingot as Chowaiki suggests and denies that Stunt ever asked whether Claude Picasso could be influenced.
Chowaiki, aware that he blotted his own copybook, counters: 'As unreliable a narrator as I may be, I'm still better than most in this field. Plus, I keep my texts.'
Double take as 'Kate' parties at Annabel's
The Princess of Wales's absence from Royal Ascot was much remarked-upon, and some at Annabel's summer solstice party were convinced they had spotted her at the private members club in Mayfair.
However, on closer inspection, they realised it was Meg Bellamy, who played the younger version of Catherine in drama The Crown.
The actress, 22, wore a white mini dress, and one guest tells me: 'I had to do a double take.'
Hancock's new ink
Matt Hancock's reinvention continues.
The former Tory MP, 46, resigned as health secretary after CCTV showed him kissing and embracing Gina Coladangelo, his aide, at Whitehall in breach of Covid distancing restrictions in 2021. The pair were both married to other people.
This week, his daughter Hope, 18, announced online: 'My dad got a tattoo today. Mid-life crisis.'
Hancock declines to say which design is now inked on his body – or on which part of his anatomy – telling me: 'I'm not commenting.' Not like him…
Brian's boozy podcast appearance
Recalling actor Brian Cox's recent appearance on her podcast, chef Angela Hartnett mischievously claims the Succession star, 79, got tipsy on margaritas before going on the West End stage that night.
With Cox playing JS Bach in The Score at the time, Hartnett quips: 'We just got Brian Cox drunk, it was fine.
He went on to do a show later, it was amazing.' Podcast co-host Nick Grimshaw says: 'He got right on it.' Surely not!
Dominic West and Alexandra Tolstoy share trek's appeal
Dominic West once trekked to the South Pole with Prince Harry, who later shunned him.
But The Affair star's latest adventure found him saddling up with a far more appealing companion. Alexandra Tolstoy, 51, rode horseback across Kyrgyzstan with West, 55, for a new documentary.
'It's a bit embarrassing I haven't watched The Wire,' she says of one of the actor's most celebrated TV dramas. 'But it's been so much fun.'
Author and broadcaster Tolstoy is a tourism ambassador for the former Soviet state.
Royal fiction is foul play
The Royal Family may feel they have enough to contend with from America, especially its West Coast. But things can deteriorate further, judging by a
play now being performed off Broadway.
It would be a challenge to summarise Prince Faggot – the play's title – as merely 'imaginative', given that it features a fetish mask and recreational drugs and other activities which would
look more in place in Fifty Shades Of Grey.
A programme note asserts that all the text is fictional and adds that 'any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental'.
Yet playwright Jordan Tannahill opts for a central character called Prince George, son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate. Shame on Tannahill.
The smart set's talking about Henry's Royal Ascot role
Carriage three in the Royal Procession caught the eye at Royal Ascot, thanks to the elegant figure of Harriet Sperling, the paediatric nurse accompanying the King's nephew, Peter Phillips, just over a year after the couple – both divorced – were first seen together in public.
Their marital histories would once have made their attendance unthinkable, but this more forgiving era had another beneficiary – in carriage four.
Not Lady Joanna Morton Jack, the Earl and Countess of Halifax's only daughter, but Joanna's husband, judge's son Henry Morton Jack.
A barrister of brilliance, he's described as 'hugely talented' by Chambers legal directory.
But he's not always been quite so upright... most memorably at a Madonna film premiere party in his youth when he and his chum, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's son, Lord Freddie Windsor, took a little too much refreshment.
Tuesday was certainly a day to build up a thirst but, happily, Henry, 46, remained splendidly vertical.
How divorced Luke finally beat drugs
Rupert Murdoch's former grandson-in-law, British rapper Luke 'Lukey' Storey, has spoken publicly for the first time about the addiction that destroyed his marriage to the media magnate's granddaughter – just 12 hours after they said 'I do'.
Charlotte Freud, 24, daughter of media executive Elisabeth Murdoch and PR supremo Matthew Freud, married Luke in 2022 in a star-studded Cotswolds wedding with guests including Woody Harrelson and Claudia Winkleman.
But behind the spectacle, the couple were already teetering on the brink. 'We had been married for 12 hours when our whole world fell apart,' Charlotte later admitted.
Luke relapsed on the way to their honeymoon. What followed was a turbulent, 14-month marriage marked by mutual attempts at recovery – and frequent collapse.
for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London. 'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits.
Luke, 39, now says: 'I ruined a lot of relationships while I was using – people I loved dearly, close friends, family. You can't heal relationships while you're still actively hurting yourself.'
Sarah's bond with Kemi
She may have fallen out with David 'man-baby' Cameron, but my colleague Sarah Vine enjoys warmer relations with the current Tory leader.
Kemi Badenoch joined guests including Kirstie Allsopp and Piers Morgan at the launch party for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London.
'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits.
(Very) modern manners
The love lives of Fern Britton's daughters are providing inspiration for her novels.
'Grace has a lovely partner, but Winnie is single, and whilst she's a very attractive girl, it all seems so difficult now,' says Fern, 67, who separated from their father, TV chef Phil Vickery, in 2020.
'In the 1970s, a man would come and say, 'Oh, do you want to go out?' and you'd reply, 'Yes, thank you'. Now, it seems they're all giving each other therapy about someone they've been seeing for ten days.'
She tells Saga magazine: 'I was intrigued about how these relationships work and wanted to explore that a bit.'
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The latest revelations come amid Britain's worsening small-boats crisis, as well as fast-rising tension in communities that are home to migrant hotels. Protests in Epping, Essex, first began outside the Bell Hotel nearly two weeks ago, after 38-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was accused of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl within days of arriving in the UK on a small boat. He denies the charges. Dozens of anti-migrant protesters then descended on another hotel in Canary Wharf after false rumours were circulated that it was being used to house those relocated from the Bell. After last summer's race riots, there are fears in government that the protests may spread further. Currently, 32,000 asylum seekers are housed in hotels at a cost of £3 billion per year. The 460-room Thistle City Barbican opened its doors to migrants in November 2021, having signed an 'exclusive use contract' with the Government. Accounts show that the deal has brought in more than £10 million a year for the hotel, which is part of the Clermont Hotel Group. Yesterday, a spokesperson said they were unable to comment on the goings-on at the property because it 'operates under a private booking'. When it used to cater for paying customers, much was made of its location – the property is situated in upmarket Islington and is close to the Barbican Centre, the Museum of London and the City. But nowadays, its proximity to popular and wealthy areas of the capital has facilitated activities other than sightseeing – something that the case of Algerian asylum seeker Hocine Bougueroua exemplifies with depressing clarity. Precisely when the 34-year-old arrived in the UK is unclear, but by last November he was living in the hotel and taking advantage of its location to pursue a life of crime. CCTV footage captured him 'at work' at a city centre pub: bearded, burly and dressed in a cap and puffa jacket, he could be seen swigging his drink and waiting for an opportunity to steal a bag that its owner had briefly left on the floor by the bar. Checking the coast was clear, he then picked up the bag – which appears to contain a laptop – and hurriedly left the premises. All in a matter of seconds. It was clearly a well-worked routine and one that earlier this year brought him to the attention of City of London police. Having linked a number of his crimes, they first arrested Bougueroua in January, when he was charged and then bailed by the court. Undeterred, he carried on stealing bags until he was arrested a second time a month later, when he was held on remand. Venues targeted included The Jugged Hare, half a mile from the hotel, The Lord Raglan and the Barbican Centre – both a mile away. The total value of items stolen came to more than £10,000. He was also caught using stolen credit cards and in possession of crack cocaine, cocaine and diazepam. He pleaded guilty to a string of offences and in May was sentenced to 24 weeks' imprisonment. Under current rules that see sentences served dramatically reduced, and taking into account time spent on remand, Bougueroua will by now have been released from prison. Only sentences of 12 months or more trigger automatic deportation for foreign nationals, meaning by now he will be free to pursue his asylum claim – and get back to stealing bags in pubs. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'While it remains our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases, we are determined to take swift and decisive action to remove failed asylum seekers, foreign national offenders, and other immigration offenders. In this Government's first year in office, over 35,000 such individuals have been returned, including 5,179 foreign criminals, an increase of 14 per cent compared to the previous year.' Records of other offences linked to migrants at the hotel give a flavour of the disorder they have brought to the area. Particularly galling is the extent of damage inflicted on the property itself – damage that taxpayers will ultimately have to pay for – resulting from numerous cases of criminal damage, arson with intent to danger life and assault. Meanwhile, two men at the hotel have been charged with serious sexual offences, including a 29-year-old who was accused last autumn of sexually assaulting a woman on a train and then attacking two police officers. In a separate case, a 47-year-old was charged with sexual assault and the oral and anal rape of a man. Both cases were sent to the Crown Court and are understood to be proceeding. Another man was charged with harassment and the 'intentional strangulation' of a woman. There have also been a number of incidents involved the assault of police officers – male and female. Hamza Selha, 37, admitted assaulting two police officers last November, damaging a police cell, racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. He was given a community order and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work and to abstain from alcohol for 120 days. Then there have been thefts, burglaries and robberies, including two shoplifters at Selfridges, in Oxford Street, earlier this year and another who stole £590 worth of goods from Tesco. The youngest of those to face criminal charges is aged just 18. In April, the teenager was accused of stealing more than £40,000 in cash from a business premises in south-west London, having robbed a man of the keys. It is hardly surprising that businesses and residents alike have been badly affected by the hotel's change of use. One cafe owner, who asked not to be identified, said: 'I'm paying tax, my rent is £30,000 a year but the customers are not coming because of the hotel for the refugees. Before, when this was a normal hotel, I had too many customers. Now, my business is going downhill. The people are always making trouble and people don't want to walk down here. They are always sitting, eating, drinking and smoking outside the hotel and they throw everything on the road. I'm constantly cleaning outside my shop, every day.' Speaking from her flat opposite the hotel, hospitality worker Skye Jones, 24, told how she was often subjected to unwanted attention from men hanging around the hotel. She said: 'I have experienced it in the morning. They will congregate around outside. It's not ideal. It makes you feel unsafe. The police are always here. 'My flatmates have said they feel very uncomfortable walking back home past the hotel. The main thing for me is the safety aspect. It's just not safe.' Mum-of-three Emma Andrews, 37, agreed, saying she would regularly see men from the hotel 'sit and ogle all the young girls' playing in the park. She said: 'Another mum and I had to call the police the other day as a guy was walking around off his face. He kept trying to approach a mum in the park. They are approaching people all the time. I won't walk the dog here any more.' As for local resident Nikki Bulley, she won't let her two boys – aged three and five – play in the park without being part of a large group. 'On the day of the King's Coronation, I had a christening for my son,' said the 33-year-old. 'And someone threw a lit mattress out of a window at the hotel. We had the fire brigade here and lots of drama. I had family come from all over for the day and they probably thought 'Where does she live?'. The hotel needs to be shut down.' A simple enough plea. But, given the state of Britain's borders and the Labour Government's stalling attempts to control them, one that looks unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
