Gordon Ramsay’s disgraced father-in-law is declared bankrupt

Gordon Ramsay has an estimated fortune of £120 million, but the chef’s estranged father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, has been declared bankrupt in the latest stage of his dramatic fall from grace.

Hutcheson, who once ran Ramsay’s restaurant empire, was the subject of a bankruptcy order last month, according to court documents.

The 69-year-old was jailed last summer after he was convicted of hacking Ramsay’s computer system following his sacking during an acrimonious public dispute.

He was jailed last year for hacking Ramsay's (pictured with wife Tana) computer system

Gordon Ramsay’s father-in-law Chris Hutcheson (pictured left) has been declared bankrupt. He was jailed last year for hacking Ramsay’s (pictured right with wife Tana) computer system

The intrusion was discovered by an expert employed by Ramsay, 51, whose television programmes include Kitchen Nightmares. The court heard the computers at his businesses were hacked nearly 2,000 times.

The chef’s wife, Tana, pleaded for her father not to be jailed before he was sentenced to six months in prison for the hacking, which was part of a bitter feud that saw him access information regarding his son-in-law’s intellectual property rights. 

‘Wow!’: Lord Archer still admires his wife 

You can’t say Lord Archer isn’t uxorious. 

‘My wife is still the most stunning woman I know,’ he told me this week.

‘We were having lunch the other day with Jane Asher.

‘Even though Mary is 73, I looked down at her at the other end of the table and thought to myself: “Wow!”

‘She hasn’t had any help maintaining her looks. 

‘I can’t stand plastic surgery. The inflated lips look ridiculous.’

His sons, Adam Hutcheson, 47, and Chris Hutcheson Junior, 37, were handed four-month suspended sentences for conspiracy.

As chief executive of Ramsay’s sprawling empire, Hutcheson was once inseparable from his son-in-law.

The hacking took place after they fell out in 2010, when, after 12 years as Ramsay’s business partner, Hutcheson was removed as a director and shareholder of Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd.

Ramsay accused him of stealing £1.4 million and a public spat ensued. The following year, lawyers for Ramsay won a High Court ruling allowing Hutcheson’s computer to be searched.

It later emerged that Hutcheson, a married father of four, had concealed a second family. He had secretly fathered two more children by his mistress, who lived in a house a few miles from where he brought up Tana and his three other children.

Ramsay paid £2 million in a 2012 legal settlement to cut all professional ties, and the row led to Tana severing contact with her family.

Hutcheson could not be reached for comment.

BBC ties itself in knots over presenter’s name 

The BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan has complained about the Corporation's pronunciation of his name

The BBC’s Media Editor Amol Rajan has complained about the Corporation’s pronunciation of his name

Ambitious BBC editor Amol Rajan has issued a clarification to the Corporation’s ‘pronunciation unit’ after Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb called him ‘Ran Jan’.

Media Editor Rajan, 34, says he was sent a ‘very pompous email’ by officials, asking: ‘I’m sorry, but this is a very serious question — there are many people within the BBC who are very concerned they’re actually pronouncing your name wrong.’ 

Speaking on a podcast, Rajan claims: ‘To a certain kind of man from a privileged background, my name really throws them.

‘It’s something about the “Raj”, it brings back these sort of imperial colonial memories . . .

‘Justin Webb will introduce me on air by saying: “We’re now joined by our media editor Amol Rajan . . . so Ran-Jan, what do you think . . .”’

The correct pronunciation is a-mole rardjen.

   

More from Sebastian Shakespeare for the Daily Mail…

By-election battles aren’t as gentlemanly as they used to be, according to the widow of Mark Bonham Carter, who won Torrington in Devon for the Liberals 60 years ago this month.

‘Both of Mark’s opponents were extremely agreeable,’ says Leslie Bonham Carter, aunt to actress Helena Bonham Carter. 

‘The Conservative candidate and his wife even sent me a birthday card during the campaign.’ 

She adds wryly: ‘I wonder if a by-election candidate would find the time to send a birthday greeting to an opponent now?’

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk