Nigel Doughty death: Nottingham Forest owner found dead in his gym at home
- Nigel Doughty is believed to have died from natural causes
By David Baker and Emily Allen
Last updated at 7:42 PM on 4th February 2012
The owner of Championship football side Nottingham Forest has been found dead at his home in Lincolnshire.
Millionaire Nigel Doughty, who was 54, was found in his gym at his home in Skillington shortly after 2pm this afternoon.
He is believed to have died from natural causes and police said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Enormous sadness: Nottingham Forest confirmed club owner Nigel Doughty’s death at his home in Lincolnshire
Mr Doughty was the co-founder of private equity firm Doughty Hanson & Co and an assistant treasurer of the Labour Party.
He gave at least £3.5million to the Party over the last seven years.
Today, Labour leader Ed Miliband paid tribute to a ‘kind and generous man with a deep desire to make the world a better place’.
Following his death the football club released a statement which read ‘It is with enormous sadness that Nottingham Forest announce the death of the club’s owner Nigel Doughty.
‘The club would like to appeal for the privacy of Mr Doughty’s family to be observed at this sad time.
‘The club will be making no further comment.’
Forest, who are fighting to avoid relegation, take on east Midlands rivals Derby in the Championship at Pride Park on Sunday.
Mr Doughty (brown jacket) saved the Reds from administration when he bought the club for £11 million in 1999
Life-long Forest fan Mr Doughty stepped down as chairman in October after a decade in the job following the sacking of former England manager Steve McClaren.
He was replaced in the role by former Forest player and manager Frank Clark.
Mr Doughty, who saved the Reds from administration when he bought the club for £11 million in 1999, has invested almost £100 million of his personal fortune in the club.
His son Michael Doughty, 19, is a midfielder for Premiership team Queens Park Rangers but is currently on loan to League Two team Crawley Town.
Leading the tributes, Mr Miliband said in a statement: ‘I am shocked and saddened to hear of Nigel Doughty’s death. I was with him only a week ago and he was full of life, enthusiasm and vigour.
‘He was a kind, generous man with a deep desire to make the world a better place.
‘My heart goes out to his wife Lucy and his children. We mourn his death deeply and will sorely miss him.’
Former prime minister Gordon Brown said: ‘Nigel Doughty will be remembered as a gentle giant, a good soft spoken man with a deep commitment to public service who, from his great success in business, became one of our country’s most generous benefactors.
‘For all his life he was loyal to all the causes that he had grown up with – his love for his team Nottingham Forest, the Labour Party, of which he was a life long supporter, and charitable causes that benefited from his generosity.
‘My thoughts are with his widow Lucy and his whole family whom he loved so much.’
Life-long Forest fan (club’s ground pictured) Mr Doughty stepped down as chairman in October after a decade in the job
Former Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell tweeted: ‘Cannot believe the news about Nigel Doughty. Spoke to him Tuesday and he seemed really well. Great friend of Labour and of football. RIP.’
England cricketer Stuart Broad – a Forest fan – tweeted: ‘Very sad Nigel Doughty has died. Lovely man and did a huge amount for Forest. RIP’
Meanwhile, former Forest striker Stan Collymore tweeted: ‘Nottingham Forest owner Nigel Doughty has sadly passed away today. Condolences to his family and friends i’m sure from everyone at #nffc’
Golfer Lee Westwood tweeted: ‘Terrible news to hear that the Forest chairman Nigel Doughty has died.’
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said: ‘At 2.13pm we received a call reporting the death of a male at an address in Skillington, Grantham.
‘There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and the matter has been passed on to the coroner.’
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Stephen Hester: The £8m home RBS chief gave to his ex-wife. She keeps mansion… as Hester rents £4m apartment
By Michael Seamark and Nick Mcdermott
Last updated at 10:04 PM on 27th January 2012
The notoriously thin-skinned Stephen Hester remains annoyed whenever any newspaper prints the much-published photograph of him astride a horse dressed in full hunting regalia
First his annual bonus is cut to just under £1million. Now it seems that Stephen Hester’s still far from insignificant fortune has taken another hit.
The beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland boss separated from his Canadian-born wife Barbara in 2010.
Mr Hester’s name has now disappeared from Land Registry documents listing ownership of their magnificent £8.6million marital home.
The couple, married almost 20 years with two children, purchased the five-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion in one of the capital’s most exclusive areas in 1995 for £1.78million.
Publicly available documents last year listed the pair as joint owners of the mortgage-free West London home, with neighbours including Simon Cowell and Sir Richard Branson.
But now the property is registered with Barbara Abt, the maiden name of the banker’s estranged wife, as sole owner.
The RBS boss – linked to attractive divorcee Suzy Neubert four months after his marriage break-up – is apparently renting a £3.8million apartment near his family.
But while Mr Hester may have ‘lost’ the London home, he can fall back on his vast country pile in Oxfordshire, a 350-acre estate complete with eight gardeners. And there is always the ski chalet in Verbier.
The Oxford-educated banker met his estranged wife Barbara when both were working at Credit Suisse.
They married in 1991. The couple divided their time between London and Oxfordshire and shared a love of fox-hunting – she is a master of foxhounds for the Warwickshire Hunt.
Shortly after taking over the helm at state-owned RBS in 2008, Mr Hester faced immediate criticism over his indulgent lifestyle after hosting a lavish hunt ball at his £7million country estate.
And the notoriously thin-skinned Mr Hester remains annoyed whenever any newspaper prints the much-published photograph of him astride a horse dressed in full hunting regalia.
Despite their shared country interests, the Hesters parted in the summer of 2010.
One family source said at the time: ‘It’s terribly sad. They’re working on an amicable separation for the sake of their children and Stephen is getting on with his job.’
Later that year, the RBS boss, 51, appeared arm-in-arm with mother-of-two Miss Neubert, like his wife a former banker.
She works in the City, as head of sales and marketing for private bank J O Hambro, which handles the funds of hugely wealthy individuals.
Stephen Hester separated from his Canadian-born wife Barbara (left) in 2010. His name has now disappeared from Land Registry documents listing ownership of their £8.6m home. He was linked to attractive divorcee Suzy Neubert (right) four months after his marriage break-up
She was married to Jolyon Neubert, the barrister son of Tory MP Sir Michael Neubert, with whom she had two daughters.
Yorkshireman Mr Hester has had a glittering, and financially rewarding, career, starting at Credit Suisse, then Abbey National and property company British Land.
According to one City insider: ‘He’s very proud of his achievements but he doesn’t take kindly to criticism.’
In an interview in 2009, Mr Hester said his upbringing and work in a sweet factory had taught him the value of money.
‘My first job was packing Polos in a factory so I don’t need anyone to tell me what it’s like being a normal person on normal amounts of money,’ he said.
Weeks after he took over at RBS, recruited to end the culture of excess, details emerged of his magnificent country estate, which has one of the most spectacular gardens in Britain.
The gardeners are paid salaries of up to £20,000 to tend it throughout the year.
Part of it was designed and created by celebrity landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, who has worked for Karl Lagerfeld and billionaire philanthropist John Paul Getty.
The grounds include an 80-acre arboretum, parterre, sunken garden and water meadow.
It emerged last night that while Mr Hester may have agreed to limit his bonus to £963,000 this year, he could still earn more than £7million for a year’s work.
In addition to a basic salary worth £1.2million, he will be handed a pension contribution worth £420,000 and the bonus of 3.6million shares in the bank now worth £998,000.
He could also be awarded ‘long-term incentive plan’ shares worth four times his basic salary, adding another £4.8million to his award for 2011.
The multiple layers of executive reward mean Mr Hester could end up earning just over £7.4million.
However, the poor performance of RBS – which has lost 40 per cent of its value this year – means he is unlikely to scoop the maximum available under the long-term incentive plan.
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It’s a flat, Jim, but not as we know it: Trekkie turns his home into Starship
By Emma Reynolds
Last updated at 6:10 PM on 27th January 2012
When Star Trek obsessive Tony Alleyne was separated from his wife, he embraced the chance to turn their old flat into a recreation of the inside of the Starship Enterprise.
But the 58-year-old’s painstaking efforts may have been for nothing.
His ex-wife wants to sell up – and she intends to offer buyers a more conventional looking home.
It’s a flat Jim, but not as we know it: Tony Alleyne in his home with his full-scale replica of the transporter console featured in Star Trek
Star Trek fan Tony Alleyne tucks into Earthly toast in his one-bedroom studio flat
Mr Alleyne has spent the last ten years transforming the one-bedroom property into a sci-fi fantasy, with a computerised flight deck, flashing lights and even ‘transporters’.
He is devastated by the news that his ex-wife Georgina wants to sell the flat in Hinckley, Leicestershire, where he has been living by himself since their break-up.
‘Trekkie’ Mr Alleyne said it would cost at least £100,000 rebuild the interior elsewhere, according to The Sun.
He said: ‘To say I’m gutted is an understatement. It is my life’s work — and it looks like it’s going into a skip. I admit there were tears.’
Mrs Alleyne, 52 — who has paid the mortgage since they split in 1994 — said: ‘I want to sell it as conventional property.’
Her former husband started building the amazingly accurate spaceship replica after his friend gave him a magazine based on the TV show.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘My friend gave me a Star Trek mag and I became obsessed with having my own space ship. He laughed when I told him – I think he thought it was all a joke, but I knew I was going to achieve it one day.
‘It all started as therapy after we split up,’ he said. ‘Building every bit from scratch really helped me to deal with the stress of it all.’
Step into my spaceship: The stunning level of detail he has put into transforming his home
Initially Mr Alleyne decked the flat out in cream and metallic colours as the USS Enterprise from 1979′s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But he found that ‘a bit boring’ and has now upgraded by recreating the starship Voyager from the 1990s series of the same name.
A copy of the ship’s command console controls the lights and sound effects in the apartment in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Every morning, a voice-activated computer system turns on fluorescent tubes that illuminate bleeping panels and a replica of the ‘beam me up’ transporter – all reflected in the mirrored ceiling. The windows have been fitted with layers of perspex and wood so that they appear to look out on outer space.
There’s a whole universe going on in that flat. Tony Alleyne’s home
Boldly going: Mr Alleyne said he was devastated at having to leave his homemade spaceship console behind
Even the doorbell has been customised. It plays a sample of Patrick Stewart in his role as captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Sourcing and building everything himself has cost Mr Alleyne around £4,000, but he said it would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds for labourers to do it.
He said: ‘Building this has been like a dream. I had a vision and I’m really amazed at what I managed to achieve with just hard work.’
He added: ‘Some people might think I’m a bit of a sad individual, but I’m not. I’m just really into Star Trek – it’s my only vice.’
Remote retreat: The 58-year-old has spent ten years on the creation that he believes would costs hundreds of thousands to have built from scratch
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Natalie Terry, 28, jailed for leaving daughter, 6, home alone for FIVE DAYS
By Christian Gysin and JOHN STEVENS
Last updated at 10:06 PM on 18th January 2012
A mother who left her six-year-old daughter at home alone for almost a week has been jailed for 18 months.
A judge ruled that Natalie Terry, 28, should be identified after shocking details of the neglect suffered by the little girl emerged in court.
The child, who had to fend for herself in the freezing house for five days, survived on water, yoghurt and Monster Munch crisps.
Natalie Terry was jailed for 18 months after leaving her daughter to fend for herself for five days
The only luxury in the house was a flat-screen TV, and police found cat faeces in virtually every room.
After the first night, the girl woke and dressed herself for school, but when her mother failed to come home she stayed in the house.
The terrified youngster then spent five days looking after herself in the semi-detached property in Dartford, Kent, in November 2010 before finally knocking on a neighbour’s door.
Shaking and sobbing uncontrollably in her nightdress, she told the neighbour: ‘My Mum has left me for five days and she has not come back.’
Home alone: The house in Dartford, Kent, where the girl was left by herself
Maidstone Crown Court heard that when police interviewed Terry before she was arrested, she simply said: ‘I neglected my daughter . . . end of.’
Judge Martin Joy was told that when Terry finally returned home, she visited a neighbour after learning police had taken her daughter away and said: ‘I will not get her back.’
The court heard Terry, who admitted child cruelty charges, had tried to get home before her daughter woke up after working through the night at a shop ten miles away in Woolwich, south-east London.
However, she did not explain where she had been for the five days she left her child alone.
She told police: ‘I am doing everything I can to earn money and keep my job.’
Maidstone Crown Court heard that Natalie Terry left her daughter alone for five days with nothing but Monster Munch crisps, yoghurt and drinking water
