Old Etonian who runs a polo club, his canon mother… and why he can’t support his baby
THE Old Etonian son of a cathedral lay canon was yesterday accused by his former lover of abandoning her when she was pregnant with his child.
Georgina David, 34, said poloplaying James Reeve, 37, had never even met his son and that he was now not giving her any money to look after him.
She gave birth to Henry in March, a month after Mr Reeve’s mother Henrietta, 62, was appointed to her honorary role as a Lay Canon at Lincoln Cathedral.
But Miss David said Mr Reeve – understood to have been an Eton classmate of Prince William – is not paying child maintenance.
The single mother said she was living on handouts from her family in a rented flat, while Mr Reeve ran a polo club in the 3,000-acre grounds of the family seat, Grade II-listed Leadenham House, near Lincoln.
The Bishop of Lincoln launched an investigation after being contacted by Miss David’s rector about the ‘pastorally unacceptable situation’, which the rector claimed had ‘clear safeguarding
‘Expected better from nobility’ ‘Refused to look at baby scans’
implications’. The Department for Work and Pensions, which includes the child maintenance service, is also monitoring the case.
Miss David, a legal aide, said: ‘My family have to pay my bills, yet he lives in a huge stately home. He’s also a direct descendant from Edward III apparently.
‘I would have expected more honourable behaviour coming from such nobility.’
Miss David met Mr Reeve through Facebook and the couple were together for six months.
During the relationship, he would stay at her flat in Chelsea, West London, once or twice each week.
After she became pregnant in the summer last year, it was initially feared that the pregnancy was ectopic, and then that she had miscarried.
Mr Reeve was supportive throughout five difficult hospital appointments, but once it was established that the baby was healthy, their relationship began to deteriorate. Miss David said she and Mr Reeve ‘kind of carried on as normal’, but he refused to look at the scan pictures of their unborn child and would no longer stay at her flat.
During the pregnancy, they went to an appointment at a private wing of London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
But Miss David said that after they arrived, Mr Reeve kept coming in and out on his phone, and then disappeared.
Miss David said she cannot afford childcare to return to work.
Mrs Reeve, 62, a churchwarden of St Swithun’s Church in Leadenham, was one of nine new canons installed at Lincoln Cathedral in February.
Following her appointment, Miss David’s rector in London wrote on her behalf to the Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend Christopher Lowson.
He requested a ‘pastoral investigation’ amid further ‘pressure and antagonism’ that his parishioner was said to have experienced at the hands of the Reeve family.
The Reverend Prebendary Dr Brian Leathard, the Rector of Chelsea, said in an email to Bishop Christopher: ‘I think it is very likely that Georgie will seek the legal and financial support to which she is entitled from James Reeve and I fear for the repute of one of Lincoln’s lay canons should this matter burst into the public realm.’
Miss David believes her former partner has declared no earnings to HMRC because his polo club is a not-for-profit organisation.
Greg Hands, the Conservative MP for Chelsea and Fulham, said he would raise Miss David’s case with Justin Tomlinson, parliamentary under secretary of state for family support, housing and main- tenance. The child maintenance service (CMS) calculates payment costs based on declared annual income but does not currently take assets into consideration.
Mr Reeve claims he does not have a salary and says he is given only a modest income from his family.
In a letter to Miss David’s mother in September last year, Mr Reeve’s lawyer warned that his client had a ‘fledgling small business from which there is no profit’ and ‘he could not pay maintenance’.
His parents, Peter, 71, and Henrietta, are divorced.
Peter, the son of a former Lieutenant Colonel and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, lives in Leadenham House, which dates back to 1790, and Mrs Reeve, whose father was a Major, has a £725,000 house opposite the main property, which is hired out for weddings and other events.
Mrs Reeve did not answer the door last night and her son could not be reached for comment.
A family spokesman said Mr Reeve only ever wanted a casual relationship and said Miss David had told him she was taking the contraceptive pill.
The spokesman added: ‘ Mr Reeve has cooperated fully with the CMS. He paid Miss David the amount assessed by the CMS based on their initial estimate.
‘When the CMS carried out a further review however it was clear that he lacked a current salary and was only in receipt of a modest income from his family.
‘The CMS then assessed him as being unable to pay any maintenance at the current time.’
He said Mr Reeve continues to cooperate with the CMS.
The Department for Work and Pensions said it was ‘ committed to [recovering] child maintenance payments that are owed’.
A spokesman added: ‘Legislation has recently passed through Parliament that will help tackle issues around self-employment and enable us to take into account a person’s assets – including property, savings and investments – as well as their self-declared income.’