The former wife of Michellin star chef Albert Roux has been advised to move out of her house after being tricked into renting out part of her £5million home.
A fake letting agency managed to convince Cheryl Roux, 61, to rent out the top two storeys of her mews house to a bogus tenant.
Since June, the three-bedroom property in Knightsbridge, west London, has been sub-let to as many as eight tenants at a time for a cost of £835 a night – with Ms Roux not getting a penny.
Cheryl Roux (left, with her ex-husband Albert Roux) has moved out of Knightsbridge home following the sub-let scandal
The locks have been changed on her £5million home and the rental scheme, which has been advertised on Airbnb, Zoopla and Booking.com, has forced Ms Roux to move out of the ground floor of her property.
Ms Roux said: ‘I’m clearly a victim of crime but the police do nothing and these crooks are still renting out my home.
‘They changed the locks so I couldn’t get in and nailed shut the garage doors. I’m at my wits’ end.’
The locks have been changed on her £5million home and the rental scheme, which has been advertised on Airbnb, Zoopla and Booking.com, has forced her to move out of the ground floor of her property in Knightsbridge (pictured)
Police told The Sun: ‘Once a property is let and there is a contract between two parties it is a matter for the civil court not the police if a dispute arises.’
Cheryl Roux is Albert’s second wife, and the pair tied the knot in 2006. They began divorce proceeding in 2014 but spent two years locked in unpleasant and often acrimonious battles.
The Mail On Sunday estimated in 2016 that Ms Roux’s fortune was valued at £10million, built up through her own family inheritance and business acumen.
Mr Roux was the first chef in the UK to gain three Michellin stars at his Mayfair restaurant Le Gavroche.
Albert’s son, Michel Roux Jr, took over the day-to-day running of the Le Gavroche in 1991. Michel also went on to be a judge on BBC2’s MasterChef.
Albert was also integral in helping to launch the careers of Gordon Ramsey and Marco Pierre White.
The son of a charcutier from Burgundy, Mr Roux originally wanted to be a priest and once said: ‘On reflection, I would have made a very bad priest. Because I am – was – a philanderer. And imagining myself visiting a nunnery… that would have been bad.’
Albert Roux was the first chef in the UK to gain three Michellin stars