The Times - UK (2020-11-14)

the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GM 27

News

felt “scared and frightened”, but Com-

mander Bagnall, who denied harass-

ment, said: “I was pursuing a romantic

relationship and I believe she was doing

the same... I thought she wanted to

have an affair.”

She claimed that her boss, who is

married with children, had ogled her

breasts, made sexual innuendos and

told her: “I love you.”

Surgeon-Captain Crowson told

Bulford military court in Wiltshire:

“She refused to accept my assertions

that I was not gay or looking to start a

romantic relationship with her.”

Surgeon-Captain Crowson is now

commanding officer of the Institute of

Naval Medicine. Commander Bagnall

is based at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth.

There is nothing illegal about the land-

lord’s refusal to negotiate a new rent but

the stance is at odds with that adopted

by many of central London’s prime

property portfolios which have taken

initiatives to help tenants. The Duke of

It is a story of father and son, of the man
who holds one of the peerage’s most
recognisable titles and the son who will
inherit it — a tale of two Rothschilds
and their different responses to the
coronavirus crisis.
On one hand is Lord Rothschild, 84,
whose charity has given more than
£400,000 in Covid-19 support grants to
organisations helping people at a time
of national crisis.
On the other is his heir, the financier
Nat Rothschild, 49, who is accused of
punishing one of his business tenants
during the pandemic by rejecting re-
quests for a rent holiday or reduction.
Mr Rothschild is understood to be
the beneficial owner of 31 St James’s
Place, on a historic Mayfair street
where several properties are owned by
his family or companies controlled by
it. The ownership of No 31 is regis-
tered in the name of Bogman
Financing Ltd, a company
listed in the British Virgin
Islands, a secretive cor-
porate jurisdiction.
Bogman bought the
Georgian building in
April 2006 for £5 mil-
lion. Since last year it
has been rented to an
ambitious young PR
firm, Perowne Inter-
national, which pays the
annual rent of £194,000 into a
Channel Islands bank account on
receipt of invoices from a property
management company in Guernsey.
Perowne’s business has been hit hard
during the pandemic due to its reliance
on the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Julia Perowne, founder of the business,
has had to make nine staff redundant
and furlough seven workers. Neverthe-
less she has offered reduced fees to
many of her clients to help them
through the downturn.
Her efforts to persuade Mr
Rothschild’s agents to do likewise by
offering some concession in the office
rent have been rebuffed. One email
from the landlord’s agent told her: “The
landlord’s expectation is that a prudent
tenant would have generated sufficient
reserves, which together with the many
forms of the government’s Covid-19
support packages available, would en-
able it to weather this particular storm.”

Bin lorry ‘removed missing airman’

The missing RAF serviceman Corrie
McKeague is believed to have died after
he climbed into an industrial waste bin
while drunk on a night out and it was
emptied into a lorry, an inquest has
been told.
Mr McKeague, of Dunfermline, Fife,
was 23 when he vanished in the early
hours of September 24, 2016, after a
night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
No trace of him has been found but
Suffolk’s senior coroner, Nigel Parsley,
said Mr McKeague “died in the Suffolk
jurisdiction in September 2016”.
The hearing in Ipswich was opened
and adjourned yesterday.
Marina Ericson, temporary chief su-
perintendent of Suffolk police, told the
hearing that Mr McKeague drove into
Bury St Edmunds on September 23 and
met up with colleagues to go drinking.
“Witnesses state that Corrie con-

sumed so much alcohol through the

evening that he became very drunk and

was asked to leave Flex nightclub,” she

said. “Witnesses also described him as

being happy and friendly.”

Mr McKeague was last seen alive at

3.25am, filmed by a CCTV camera, en-

tering an area behind some shops

where there were industrial waste bins.

A lorry emptied one of those bins at

4.19am and it was recorded as weighing

116kg, 70-80kg more than usual. Mr

McKeague’s mobile phone connected

to the internet and was tracked follow-

ing the movements of the lorry until the

connection was lost.

Mr McKeague was reported missing

on September 26 by colleagues at RAF

Honington.

Ms Ericson said: “Despite an

extensive police-led investigation and

search, there has been no proof of life

since the last sighting of Corrie at

3.25am on Saturday, September 24,

2016. It is believed that Corrie was in
      the bin when it was emptied into the
      Biffa waste lorry and this is where he
      subsequently died.”
      The coroner said: “On the basis of the
      evidence I’ve heard I will open an in-
      quest into Corrie’s tragic death.”
      A pre-inquest review hearing will
      take place on February 5, when consid-
      eration will be given to witnesses and
      the length and date of the full inquest.
      Mr McKeague’s mother, Nicola Ur-
      quhart, has said that she asked for an in-
      quest for her son and was “extremely
      hopeful that this will give us answers”.
      His father, Martin McKeague, said
      after yesterday’s hearing: “This will put
      the truth out to the public. There’s no
      mystery. We’re not finding out any new
      news here.”

Court martial clears nurse

who wanted lesbian affair

A nurse in the Royal Navy who sent

love messages to her superior officer

has been cleared of harassment at a

court martial.

Commander Sally-Anne Bagnall was

accused of “relentlessly pursuing”

Surgeon-Captain Elizabeth Crowson

and sending her sexualised texts.

A military court was told that Com-

mander Bagnall refused to accept that

her boss at Defence Primary Health

Care HQ in Staffordshire, was not a

lesbian and insisted that the officer was

“in denial about her sexuality” and

“suppressing her true feelings”.

Commander Bagnall, 51, sent messa-

ges about her sex drive and three-way

relationships, the court was told. Sur-

geon-Captain Crowson said that she

Another message

suggested Pe-

rowne Inter-

national was in

breach of its lease

by leaving the

building unoccu-

pied for more than a

month during the

national lockdown.

“Our business is totally

wrapped up in the hospitality industry

— our survival depends upon it,” said

Ms Perowne, 39, who set up her busi-

ness in 2016. “The agents have claimed

we are irresponsible for not

being prepared for an eco-

nomic downturn but tell

me one business that was

prepared for the enormi-

ty of this crisis. And give

me one sector that’s been

hit as hard as hospitality. We

have been trying to

reason with the

landlord from the

outset of the crisis

but they have

from the start

been utterly lack-

ing in sympathy,

compassion and

compromise.”

Rothschild refuses to help struggling firm

Heir failing ‘to do the

right thing’ for business

hit hard by Covid,

report Sean O’Neill and

George Greenwood

Westminster’s Grosvenor Estate, which

owns many properties in Mayfair and

Belgravia, has offered rent holidays to

commercial and residential tenants.

The 26 charities who rent offices from

the estate in London have had pay-

ments waived and the duke has donat-

ed £12.5 million to charities.

Around Chelsea and Knightsbridge,

the Cadogan Estate has provided

£15 million in support for 240 tenants,

including switching bars and restau-

rants to rents based on turnover.

Hugh Seaborn, chief executive of

Cadogan, said: “Protecting the long-

term vibrancy of our neighbourhood is

vital during a potentially devastating

time for our occupiers.”

The Crown Estate says it is offering a

variety of packages including rent

payments linked to turnover, rent de-

ferments and rent-free periods to help

its tenants through a “challenging

period”.

Lord Rothschild has few commercial

tenants in London but his Rothschild

Foundation, based at the family’s

Waddesdon Manor in Buckingham-

shire, has established a Covid Support

Fund which has distributed £440,000

to local charities and support organisa-

tions since July. Among those given

financial support are homelessness

charities in Wycombe and Aylesbury

which are anticipating increasing de-

mand for their services as unemploy-

ment rises.

Nat Rothschild was available for

comment this week about the half-

yearly results of his Volex power cord

business, whose operating profits are

up 31 per cent on last year. He did not,

however, respond to questions from

The Times about St James’s Place.

Michael Allen, a London-based con-

sultant involved in the management of

the property, also did not respond to

questions. A spokeswoman at Artemis

Trustees in Guernsey, which adminis-

ters rent payments, said: “We don’t wish

to comment — we don’t want to give

our side of the story.”

Ms Perowne is confident her busi-

ness will survive and thrive. She added:

“In a time like this, people have the

opportunity to do the right thing.

People have a moral responsibility to

help each other if they can, as we did for

our clients.

“We expected a similar kind of com-

passion from our wealthy landlord. We

are not asking for charity. We were pre-

pared to extend our lease if they could

give us some concessions now. No one

is to blame for causing this crisis and in

general I think businesses have been

working together to ensure that we are

all in this together and, wherever poss-

ible, come out of this together.”

DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES FOR UNICEF

Nat Rothschild, with

his wife Loretta

Basey, has been less

charitable than his

father. Above left:

Julia Perowne

Profile

N

at Rothschild was very

wealthy but not very well

known until October 2008

when he found himself at the

centre of a political controversy

(Sean O’Neill writes).

Mr Rothschild had been with

the Labour cabinet minister

Peter Mandelson and the Russian

businessman Oleg Deripaska on

the oligarch’s yacht off Corfu

earlier that year. Mr Rothschild

wrote to The Times disclosing

that his former school friend

George Osborne had also been

on the yacht and accused him of

trying to solicit a donation,

which Mr Osborne denied.

Nathaniel Philip Victor James

Rothschild was born in 1971. He

is the youngest child of Jacob

Rothschild, the 4th Baron

Rothschild, but as the only son is

heir apparent. He upset his

parents in 1995 when he eloped

with Annabelle Neilson to Las

Vegas. The marriage lasted three

years. He says on Twitter that he

is “happily married to

Loretta” [Basey], an

ex model.

31 is regis

gman

any

n

R

r-

the

into a

ccount on

maproperty

An

su

ro

n

br

by

bui

pied

month

national

“Our bus

wrappedupintheho

is happily

Loretta”

pp y

ex mo