Ramsay father-in-law is jailed over hacking star chef’s computer
GORDON Ramsay’s father-in-law was jailed for six months yesterday after being convicted of hacking into the star chef’s emails.
Chris Hutcheson remained silent as he received the sentence, kissing his sons sitting beside him in the dock at the Old Bailey before being led away to the cells.
Earlier the court heard how the 69-year-old, along with his sons Adam and Chris jnr, had hacked into Ramsay’s computer during a long-running High Court battle he was having with the TV star.
The chef was hacked 2,000 times between October 2010 and March 2011, the Old Bailey heard.
On one day alone Hutcheson hacked Ramsay’s computer 600 times and his son Adam did the same 282 times. It was said they were after information about intellectual property rights and other material which might help them in their legal fight.
Private information and photographs obtained through the hacking had appeared in newspapers, the court was told.
Handing down the six-month sentence, Judge John Bevan told the trio: “The whole episode amounts to an unattractive and unedifying example of dirty linen being washed in public.”
Ramsay, 50, married to Hutcheson’s daughter Tana, mother of his four children, once employed his father-in-law as chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.
But the two men fell out and Ramsay sacked him, sparking a feud that split the family.
The chef feared his computer had been illegally accessed and hired an expert to investigate, the court heard.
Hutcheson lost a civil action and paid Ramsay £1million in damages and legal costs.
His own legal bill was more than £1million, the court was told.
Hutcheson senior, of Earlsfield, south London, Adam Hutcheson, 47, of Sevenoaks, Kent, and Chris Hutcheson, 37, of Welwyn Garden City, Herts, had admitted hacking offences at an earlier hearing.
The two sons were each handed suspended sentences for their role in the plot.
Neither Ramsay nor his wife supported the prosecution and did not attend court. The Hutcheson family is now reconciled.