The Duchess of Cambridge’s uncle has admitted punching his wife outside their home in a drunken spat.
Gary Goldsmith, 52, struck Julie-Ann Goldsmith, 47, with a ‘left hook’ following a night at a private members’ club in central London.
The drunken attack, which unfolded in front of a shocked taxi driver, left Mrs Goldsmith needing hospital treatment, Westminster magistrates were told.
Businessman Goldsmith, estimated to be worth £30million, is the younger brother of the Duchess’s mother Carole Middleton and attended the weddings of both Kate and Pippa.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s uncle Gary Goldsmith arrives at court before pleading guilty to an assault by beating charge. He attacked his wife after a night out in London
Mr Middleton had tried to get a police caution to avoid court action but prosecutors refused
The couple went to a charity auction before Mrs Goldsmith (pictured yesterday) was hit
Prosecutor Kate Shilton told the court Mrs Goldsmith fell down after her husband threw what was described by their taxi driver, Daniel Shepherd, as a ‘left hook’.
She said: ‘The argument took place in the back of a taxi. They both got out of the taxi and he [Mr Shepherd] describes Mrs Goldsmith slapping her husband to the face.
‘He then describes how Mr Goldsmith punches her hard in the face using a left hook.
‘Mrs Goldsmith has then fallen backwards. He says: “She appears to be unconscious, she isn’t moving”.’
Mrs Goldsmith was knocked to the ground, where she remained with her eyes closed for around 15 seconds before waking up and staggering to her feet, the court heard.
Ms Shilton said: ‘She [Mrs Goldsmith] then becomes upset, starts crying and uses some railings to assist her.’
After the incident, Goldsmith was described as ‘panicked and walking in and out of the house, trying to get her to go back in the house’.
The court was told that, when the taxi driver challenged Goldsmith over his actions, he then became aggressive towards him.
Julie-Ann is his fourth wife. He is often referred to as the black sheep of the Middleton family
The couple, pictured previously with Mr Goldsmith’s daughter Tallulah, argued in a taxi
Mrs Goldsmith then asked the taxi driver to call the police.
At the police station, Goldsmith told officers he had pushed his wife hard with his left hand, but denied using a hook.
The couple had been at a charity auction at Home House in Portman Square, Marylebone before they clashed.
Mrs Goldsmith was taken to hospital in an ambulance after she was hit, but was later discharged, the court heard.
Goldsmith, who appeared in court wearing a blue three-piece suit with a bronze-coloured tie and a patterned handkerchief in his breast pocket, admitted one charge of assault by beating today.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment but it is believed he will face community service.
Mr Goldsmith is seen with his daughter Tallulah at Pippa Middleton’s wedding this year
Mrs Goldsmith was knocked unconscious and was crying after being punched, a witness said
Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said: ‘I am excluding custody and looking at a community order. But I am really looking at how to protect this lady from this man.’
Julie-Ann is Goldsmith’s fourth wife. He married sales executive Miranda Foote in 1991 before they split and he married second wife Luan, with whom he had a daughter, Tallulah.
Goldsmith is the brother of the Duchess of Cambridge’s mother Carole
After he and Luan divorced, he married Julia Leake following a whirlwind romance.
She left him amid a reported row over his drug use and he later met and married Julie-Ann.
Goldsmith was brought up in a council estate in Hounslow, west London, and initially worked as an IT operator before becoming an entrepreneur.
His father was a painter and decorator from west London and his grandfather worked as a miner in Durham.
His fortune was made after he set up an IT recruitment company that he sold for an estimated £17million before buying a a villa in Ibiza, which he called ‘La Maison de Bang Bang.’
His sister Carole left school she went on to work for British Airways when he was still a teenager. She met husband Michael at the airline and they later had Kate and Pippa.