Father-in-law admits hacking Gordon Ramsay’s computer system
‘He had held a senior position but as a result of his dismissal he was motivated to access unlawfully the computer system’
GORDON RAMSAY’S father-in-law has admitted he hacked into a company computer system owned by the television chef in order to find a picture of his own alleged lover, a court heard.
Chris Hutcheson, 68, yesterday pleaded guilty alongside his sons Adam, 46, and Chris Jnr, 45, after they were charged for attempting to gain access to private information held by the chef ’s multi-million-pound business, Gordon Ramsay Holdings Limited.
They now face up to two years in prison for conspiring to cause a computer to access programmes and data without authority.
Appearing before the Old Bailey, Hutcheson’s admission came more than seven years after Mr Ramsay sacked him as his main business partner amid allegations he had used the company’s finances to fund his serial womanising.
Hutcheson, who denied the claims, called Ramsay a fame-obsessed “monster” and sued him for unfair dismissal and unpaid wages.
In the latest case, Hutcheson stood accused of attempting to hack into the company’s computer system in 2011, in order to discover whether Mr Ramsay had been circulating a picture of his alleged mistress, Sara Stewart.
Hutcheson, his two sons and his daughter Orlanda Butland, 45, were later charged under Operation Tuleta, an inquiry launched by Scotland Yard to investigate alleged computer crimes against celebrities. Ms Butland denied the charge and the prosecution offered no evidence in relation to her case.
Following the allegations of hacking, Mr Ramsay’s wife, Tana, severed ties with her parents. Dan Suter, prosecuting, told a previous hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court that Hutcheson’s dismissal in 2010 had “motivated” him to carry out the hack.
The prosecution said Hutcheson had been involved in civil litigation following his dismissal, and that he had been attemptingattemptin to gain access to material that mightmi prove useful during the legal proc proceedings.
The court also heard Ms Stewart had complained of a breach of privacy in relation to a phot photograph of her and that Hutcheson had also been attempting to determine whetherw it had been passed on by RamsayRam to a third party.
Mr Suter said:said “It is then that the defendants tried to access the system, to determine wh whether Gordon Ramsay had sent that pic picture.” Once Mr RamsayRam was alerted to the hack, he instructedinstr an expert who traced the IP addresses of the computers back to Hutcheson and his sons, the courtc heard.
Mr Su Suter added that a Metropolita ropolitan Police expert found the def defendants had allegedly made almosta 2,000 entries into the c company accounts. All the defendantsdefend were bailed for preparation of pre-sentence reports. Sentencing will t take place on June 2.