In the Media

Marco Pierre White's wife handed community service over insults scrawled in blood

PUBLISHED October 26, 2012
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Matilde Conejero, 47, was also sentenced to 40 hours of community service.

She used a child's scooter to smash the front and rear windscreens of the TV star's top of the range 4X4 vehicle, causing £12,000 damage.

When he failed to answer his buzzer, the mum-of-three used her own blood and red nail varnish to scrawl insults on the walls of the communal hallway outside his front door.

Eventually, when another woman appeared at the door, Conejero "lurched" at her in a jealous rage and had to be restrained by police.

Nicholas Alexander, prosecuting, told Isleworth Crown Court how Pierre White, 50, was asleep at his luxury home in leafy Holland Park home on May 7th this year when he was woken by a commotion outside.

Mr Alexander said: "He had been sleeping at the time and was awoken to be told his ex-wife was outside the property.

"He could hear noise coming from outside the property and went to the window to see what it was.

"Whilst looking through the window he could see his wife by his Range Rover, smashing the vehicle and damaging it using a child's scooter. Extensive damage was caused to the vehicle."

The court heard police were called and an officer arrived to find both windscreens had been damaged and the panels scratched, causing thousands of pounds of damage.

Mr Alexander continued: "As he approached the address he noticed the defendant had a bleeding little finger and he noticed she was wearing red nail varnish.

"As he approached the property he saw, daubed in blood and red nail varnish, she had written graffiti offensive towards Mr Pierre White.

"He also noticed scratches to the Oak front door and nail varnish within the lock."

The court was told that when the officer knocked on the front door, it was opened by another woman and Conejero "lurched" towards her.

Conejero, who the court heard has a previous conviction for drink driving was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and escorted from the premises towards an awaiting police van.

In police interviews, Conejero admitted causing the damage to the car and home, but said she had a right to as it was jointly hers.

She pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate's Court, but changed her plea to guilty when the Crown Prosecution Service refused to drop the charges.

But she was sentenced to the community service and also given a restraining order not to enter Addison Road in Holland Park, where the attack happened.

Pierre White, who was due to give evidence at the trial, was kept on the opposite side of the building from his wife, but through the prosecutor he said he wanted his wife's behaviour to be "observed" by the court.

Mr Alexander said: "His personal observation would be that there needs to be some recompense to the community for these actions.

"Given that the ultimate person who would pay any costs and compensation would be Mr Pierre White I don't make any specific application for costs or compensation."

David Jubb, in mitigation, described Conejero - known as Mati - as a woman of "impeccable character" who had suffered since the breakdown of her marriage to the Hell's Kitchen chef.

Mr Jubb said: "She was in a long-term relationship with the complainant.

"They had been together since 1992 and married in 2000. They have been separated for some time and it has been an emotional and distressing time period of time for this woman."

The Hell's Kitchen star married third wife Conejero in 2000 and they have three children together.

They began divorce proceedings in 2007, but halted them last year after running up massive legal bills totalling an estimated £3 million.

She now lives in a flat above a pizza restaurant he once owned in Chiswick, west London, with her 10-year-old daughter.

Pierre White, the youngest chef to be given three Michelin stars and who is estimated to be worth £25 million, lives with the other two children.

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