Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 7, 2019 Page 27
A TYCOON yesterday
lost his bid to win £900,000
compensation from police
over blunders that led to
his sister’s murder.
Manuel Fernandez, who is
a friend of the Duchess of
York, claimed his suffering
since the killing of Maria
Stubbings cost him his high-
flying sales job and hun-
dreds of thousands of
pounds in earnings.
But a judge awarded him only
£20,000, saying the 52-year-old
had still been able to set up a
successful internet firm and
buy an Aston Martin supercar.
Miss Stubbings, 50, was stran-
gled by her former partner Marc
Chivers in December 2008.
Chivers, who had murdered a
previous girlfriend in Germany,
was jailed for three months for
an initial assault on Miss Stub-
bings. He killed her a week
after she told Essex Police that
he had burgled her home in
Chelmsford.
An inquest in 2014 found that
police blunders contributed to
her death. The Independent
Police Complaints Commission
came to a similar conclusion.
Central London County Court
was told yesterday that Mr
Fernandez wanted £900,000 for
emotional breakdown and loss
of earnings, having rejected
offers of £20,000 and £50,000.
The judge, Recorder Alper
Riza QC, described the claimas ‘unusually high’. He awarded
the former soldier from Tot-
teridge in north London £20,000
in non-pecuniary damages for
the grief he had suffered owing
to police failings, and a further
£810 for medical treatment.
A hearing in October willfriends’. The businessman’s
claim for loss of earnings cen-
tred on his redundancy from his
£230,000-a-year job at Fair Isaac
Services, a data analytics firm.
He said this was the result of
an 18-month depressive epi-
sode following his sister’s mur-
der. Judge Riza ruled that he
had in fact lost his job as a
result of a ‘perceived need to
make staff redundant’.
In 2010, Mr Fernandez set up
an internet lifestyle firm called
vVoosh, which is now valued at
£6million. The duchess is a
trustee of its charitable wing.
Judge Riza said Mr Fernan-
dez had realised that purchas-
ing an Aston Martin in 2013
‘was evidence of a lifestyle that
I am satisfied he sought to sup-press’. Noting his ‘strange’
demeanour in the witness box,
the judge added: ‘He froze for a
prolonged period while taking
the oath; was often tearful;
used an expletive on one occa-
sion; and protested he did not
want money.’
Judge Riza said it would be
naive to think that Mr Fernan-
dez’s sole interest was in jus-
tice and not money.
Chivers, who was 41 at the
time of the murder, hid Miss
Stubbings’ body in her home
and spoke to police on the door-
step when they followed up on
reports he had broken in. He
told officers that she was away
visiting friends.
He received a whole life jail
term in 2009.Fergie’s pal loses
£1m payout claim
over sister’s killing
By Glen KeoghFriends: Mr Fernandez with the duchessPOLICE found heroin worth
£40million hidden in bundles of
towels and bathrobes in one of
Britain’s biggest drug seizures.
More than 350 packages of
heroin were concealed in a
shipping container on a vessel
that sailed from Oman into
Felixstowe in Suffolk.
Acting on a tip-off, National
Crime Agency (NCA) officers
secretly removed 398kg of her-
oin hidden in boxes before
restacking the empty boxes.
The ship sailed to Antwerp and
the container was driven to
Rotterdam, where Dutch police
swooped on Monday, arresting
two men. A third man, from
Bromsgrove, Worcestershire,
was held by the NCA.A DOUBLE murder inquiry has
been launched after the bodies
of a man and woman were
found at the gated home of a
psychiatrist.
Neighbours said Dr Leela
Monti, 51, a former NHS trust
staff governor, had not been
seen for several days. One
reported hearing a gunshot on
Monday morning – hours
before the bodies were discov-
ered at the detached bungalow
in Branston, Lincolnshire.
Police would not confirm the
identities of the victims, but
described the deaths as an ‘iso-
lated incident’. A 22-year-old
man has been arrested on sus-
picion of murder and remained
in custody last night.5million ‘at risk of losing
pension pot to scammers’
By Samantha Partington
Money Mail ReporterUnexpected
email offers‘Hid body in
her home’decide how much Mr Fernandez
is required to pay in court costs.
He was romantically linked
with the Duchess of York after
the pair were pictured together
at glamorous events around
the world.
A spokesman for the duchess
said they were simply ‘goodTHE pension nest eggs of about
5million Britons are at risk of
being emptied by scammers,
watchdogs have warned.
More than 40 per cent of 45- to
65-year-olds expose themselves to
fraud by taking up tempting offers
of free reviews or promises to boost
retirement income, a survey by the
Financial Conduct Authority and
the Pensions Regulator found.
Last year, victims of pension scams
lost an average of £82,000 each.
The watchdogs found that those
most vulnerable to scams were
looking for quick ways to increase
their income when they retire.
Almost a quarter of those sur-
veyed said they would be tempted
by offers of high returns in either
overseas properties, renewable
energy bonds, storage units or for-estry, despite these investments
being high risk and not suitable for
pension savings. And 23 per cent
said they would talk to a cold caller
who asked them to discuss theirjoined forces to warn families
about the importance of protect-
ing life savings from fraudsters.
They advise that unexpected
offers received by email, through
social media or cold calls should
be ignored, and being pressurised
into making fast decisions about
their pension should ring warning
bells that they are being scammed.
Pensions minister Guy Opper-
man said: ‘Last year’s pension
scams awareness campaign pre-
vented hundreds of people from
losing as much as £34million, and
I’m backing this year’s effort to be
bigger and better as we build a
generation of savvy savers.’
All companies authorised by the
Financial Conduct Authority can be
checked on its website, register.fca.
org.uk, or by contacting the watch-
dog on 0800 111 6768.pension plans. Furthermore, 7 per
cent of pension savers said they
would agree to a time-limited offer
from a firm that demanded the
paperwork be signed immediately
if they sent a courier to their door.
The two watchdogs, which sur-
veyed 2,000 people, have now£40m heroin
haul... in boxes
of bathrobes
Pair are found
dead at home
of psychiatrist
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