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Millionairess in cash
row throttled mother
‘There was a lot
of jealousy’Confrontation: Rachael Tudor, 49
By Izzy Ferris
A MILLIONAIRE businesswoman
throttled her mother and tried to
bite her father’s hand during a bit-
ter row over money, a court heard.
Rachael Tudor, 49, was left a £4million
business by her partner when he died
of a heart attack in 2014.
As director of R Tudor Holdings and
Advantage Chemicals – both chemical
trading companies – she was asset rich but
cash poor so borrowed £280,000 from her
parents, Robert, 76, and Janet, 75, in August
2018 when they sold their home as part of
a downsizing plan.
Mr and Mrs Tudor then went to live with
their daughter until their new house had
been renovated and she assured her
parents that the loan would be repaid
within four to six weeks.
But Tudor, from Redmarley in Gloucester-shire, initially only repaid them £124,000,
Cheltenham magistrates heard.
She later gave her parents a cheque for the
balance before ‘confronting’ them and tell-
ing them to leave her house on October 8
last year. Tudor denied assaulting her mother
but was found guilty after a two-day trial.
Giving evidence, Mrs Tudor said: ‘I came
downstairs after I heard Robert and
Rachael having an argument and she started
shouting and screaming at me.
‘She said, “You’ve had your money now –
get out and give me your key” I told her that
she would get what she deserved.
‘My daughter then flew at me. It was utter
mayhem. She put both her hands around
my throat. She was trying to get the house
key from my husband and her arms were
flailing all over the place.’
Mr Tudor recalled: ‘Rachael
thrust a cheque for £150,000
at me and told me and my
wife to get out. She demanded
the key and I refused, keeping
it in my right hand. She lunged
at me and grabbed my hand –
she tried to bite my hand but
I moved it away.
‘Then she grabbed my wife
around the neck with both
hands. I couldn’t believe what
was happening. My wife fell to
the floor and I ushered [her]
out of the kitchen door.’
T h e m a g i s t r a t e s h e a r d
that Mrs Tudor suffered red-FIRE consultants warned the
refurbishment of Grenfell
Tower could make safety
matters worse five years
before the inferno.
They emailed each other
about risks to the designs.
Concerns included having
no sprinklers and pressures
on a single escape route.
Cate Cooney, of safety firm
Exova, wrote: ‘They are mak-
ing an existing c**p situation
worse, so it’s a matter of...
making the new stuff work.’
The emails were yesterday
shown to the inquiry into the
2017 fire, which claimed 72
lives. The hearing in Padding-
ton, west London, continues.Grenfell fire
safety ‘worse
after refurb’
dening to the neck and an
arm injury and was taken to
Cheltenham General Hospi-
tal after the assault.
Tudor claimed: ‘My mother
reached over my father and
punched me in the face, draw-
ing blood from a split lip. I
had given them a cheque
and after my mother hit me I
just wanted them out of
my home.’
S h e s a i d : ‘ M y m o t h e r
shouted, “Let me at her, Bob,
I’m going to kill her”, but my
father restrained her and they
walked away to their vehicle
outside the property.
‘There was a lot of jealousy
from my mother and father
about my inheritance.’
The magistrates imposed a
conditional discharge for 18
months as well as a restrain-
ing order prohibiting her
from contacting her parents
for two years. Tudor was also
ordered to pay £1,500 prose-
cution costs.compiled by eTan smallman
and adam jacoT de boInodday
on this
March 5, 2020
FRom THe daIlY maIl aRcHIVe
MARCH 5, 1940
THE new Dalai Lama, spiritual and
temporal ruler of Tibet, has been enthroned
at Lhasa in a five-hour ceremony. He is a
Chinese peasant boy, born six years ago at
the exact moment when the previous
Dalai Lama died.
MARCH 5, 1957
CAuGHT tearing Elvis Presley’s portrait
from Love Me Tender film posters, David
Lowe, 17, told Wolverhampton magistrates
yesterday: ‘I am a Presley fan. I wanted his
picture.’ It cost him a £2 fine.HaPPY bIRTHdaY
CRAIG and C HARLIE
REID, 58. The Scottish
twins, aka The Pro -
claimers, have had hits
w i t h S u n s h i n e O n
L e i t h , L e t t e r F r o m
America and I’m Gonna
Be (500 Miles). The
latter includes the Scottish word ‘havering’,
which means to talk nonsense. Charlie has
lamented: ‘The band is nowhere near as
famous as the song and we never will be.’
BERNARD ARNAuLT, 72. The French
tycoon, Europe’s richest person with a
£ 77 billion fortune, is the boss of LVMH, the
world’s largest luxury goods company,
which includes brands Louis Vuitton, Moet
& Chandon and Christian Dior. Apple’s
Steve Jobs once told Arnault: ‘You know,
Bernard, I don’t know if in 50 years my
iPhone will still be a success, but I can tell
you, I’m sure everybody will still be drinking
your Dom Perignon.’boRn on THIs daY
RACHEL GuRNEY (1920-
2001). The actress from
Buckinghamshire made her
name as Lady Marjorie
Bellamy in TV’s upstairs,
Downstairs and was hailed
as ‘one of the most elegant
and serene exponents of
well-bred femininity and
aristocratic assurance’. But
Gurney — who was brought up at Eton,
where her father was a housemaster — said
she wished she had been cast as a servant:
‘They are much nicer people.’
SIR WILLIAM BEVERIDGE (1879-1963).
In 1942, the Bengal-born British economist
wrote what became known as the Beveridge
Report, setting out how Britain should be
rebuilt after World War II. It resulted in a
‘cradle to grave’ social security system and
the NHS. His report spoke of the abolition
of ‘Want’. ‘But Want is only one of five
giants on the road of reconstruction,’ he
said. ‘The others are Disease, Ignorance,
Squalor and Idleness.’on maRcH 5...
IN 1946, Winston Churchill first spoke of an
‘Iron Curtain’ dividing the Soviet union and
the West.
IN 1956, Frank Sinatra released Songs For
Swingin’ Lovers. It would top the uK’s first
album chart four months later.WoRd WIZaRdRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION:
Midden (14th century)
A) A dunghill. B) A dull, indescribable
colour. C) Halfway. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Spill the beans — meaning to divulge pri-
vate or secret information indiscreetly or
unintentionally; from 1900s American horse
racing, with ‘spill’ meaning to talk and
‘beans’ meaning information.QUoTe F oR TodaY
The main thing about acting
is honesty. If you can fake
that, you’ve got it made.
George Burns,
U.S. comedian (1896-1996)joKe oF THe daY
WHAT did the hungry donkey say when it
only had thistles to eat? Thistle do.
Guess The Definition answer: A.