He was a TV reality star used to the finest cuisine. But now Marco Pierre White, son of the top chef of the same name, has a cell for a home and prison food to contest with.
Bristol Crown Court heard Marco Pierre White junior had a privileged start in life and was from a good family. But the former Big Brother contestant has been struggling with heroin addiction from the age of 18. And, after three times breaching the terms of a suspended sentence, he has finally been put behind bars.
He pleaded guilty to 14 offences of shoplifting, possessing a knife, possessing heroin, a racially aggravated public order offence. The offences spanned January last year to April this year and relate to the Bath area.
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Judge Mark Horton jailed him for 11 months, with 32 weeks of a previously suspended jail term to run consecutively. So how did Marco Pierre White junior so spectacularly fall from grace?
The heavily tattooed reality star appeared on the 2016 edition of Celebrity Big Brother but was evicted after just one week. Just four days after his exit he appeared before magistrates to answer a drug driving charge from April 2016, when he was reportedly being stopped in a grey BMW X5 in Hammersmith with more than 200 microgrammes of cocaine in his blood.
In 2018, he announced he was attending AA meetings, although and at his trial in January he said he was then in rehab for alcohol addiction and before the incident in November had been sober 'for a year and a half'. In January 2019 he was convicted and fined after calling police officers 'f*****s' and 'n******s' while they tried to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly at a train station.
In June 2019, he was ordered to pay more than £1,000 for running out on a £27 restaurant bill after his debit card was declined. The following month it was reported he had to be dragged 'kicking and screaming' to a police station after being arrested for allegedly smashing windows during a row with his father in Wiltshire.
In July 2019, he appeared in court accused of making off from a café without paying the bill after his payment card was declined. He had loudly proclaimed who his father was.
He became a father to baby daughter in November 2019 with his partner, who has kept out of the public eye. He documented her pregnancy and the birth on his social media accounts. In January 2020, he was arrested again after allegedly stealing a £40 mobile phone.
Catherine Flint, defending, said her client had had a miserable time on remand. She said: "His dad is well known and known to be wealthy. He (Pierre White junior) has suffered bullying, intimidation, extortion, threats of violence and actual violence. He is finding it incredibly difficult in prison. He is terrified at the thought of ever having to go back."
Miss Flint said her client had been addicted to heroin after suffering a car accident aged 18. She said he has detoxed in jail, despite drugs being offered to him.
Miss Flint said her client was ashamed of is behaviour and "deeply ashamed" of racist language he used on the shop security guard. The court heard Pierre White has the offer of a chef's position with his father's business on release.
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