A Statement

Published: Sunday, 02 December 2018

Enough. This outrageous character assassination has got to stop. Here are some facts. My wife has been in remission from cancer for 7 years. We battled the initial diagnosis together and she handled - and continues to handle her recovery - bravely.


Lucie Rose is NOT my daughters friend. They met twice - once in Qatar when I asked her and her friend to look after Jemma on a night out. It went horribly wrong. Lucie later went to see Jemma in London to see if she could help with her addictions. Sadly she couldn’t, but she wanted to try. That’s it. I don’t consider 2 meetings to be enough contact to be described as a ‘friend’. 

Sadly my daughters problems have haunted our family for 15 years or more. Those that know us well would tell you that we have tried everything to help her. We’ve spent in excess of £250,000 on rehab. I have never come up short on family matters.
Jemma’s issues are at the core of my marriage break-up. My wife and I disagree on her treatment. Quite simply - I refuse to ‘enable’ her with her problems any further. Those with addictions will understand what I mean.


I’ve stayed quiet these past few years - despite an onslaught from ill-informed social media cowards and the pride of the great British Press. How can anyone at The Sun - owned by an organisation that is rotten from the top down - pass judgement on me? And that newspaper is not alone in its inaccurate tiresome assassination attempts on me.


Enough now. Leave me alone to deal with personal family issues that are in no-ones interests to hear about. One day I will reveal everything that happened when I left Sky. For now, let’s leave it at this - I resigned on a matter of principle accepting that some felt that was the correct thing to do after the initial incident. I did my time. I re-built with the help of some fantastic employers both at home and now in Qatar. I repeat. Enough. Leave me alone.