Poor little Daddy’s girl
Reality check for spoilt teenage beauty given a £30,000 birthday party at 15 as her father goes bust and is threatened with jail
DADDY always provided Anysha Panesar with the very best that money could buy – including a £30,000 15th birthday party featuring an X Factor judge and a personal video message from Nicole Kidman. He also bankrolled her dream to become a beauty queen and model.
But the teenager may have to make do with a less extravagant lifestyle now that her father’s business has gone bust.
Anysha’s gifts at that 15th birthday party in 2009 included a Gucci handbag, a £ 1,500 mobile phone, a £ 400 pair of designer sunglasses and a £ 24,000 Volkswagen Golf GTI with a personalised number plate – even though it would be two years before she could drive it.
The full cost of her big day, which also included a helicopter ride and was featured on an MTV reality TV show, was reported to be up to £30,000.
The youngster’s father Harby, 45, said at the time that any parents planning a similar gathering should have ‘very long pockets and very long arms to reach into those pockets’.
Those pockets won’t be anything like as deep now that he is facing jail and he and his 43-year-old wife could face losing their £500,000 home and six-acre estate in the Vale of Glamorgan although the couple denied this yesterday.
Panesar owned insurance company Motorcare Warranties, but an investigation by the Financial Services Authority found the company had left a trail of victims whose policies were worthless.
A bankruptcy hearing in the High Court banned Panesar from setting up a new business and he was then found to be in contempt of court by launching a new insurance company. Mr Justice Eder ruled Panesar was in contempt for ‘wilful interference with the administration of justice’.
Sentence was adjourned until next month but he warned Panesar: ‘It is important to state that in light of my conclusions, all options remain open including a sentence of imprisparty onment.’ Yesterday Anysha, who is 18 and lives with her parents, would not comment on the family’s altered circumstances, though a friend said she was supporting her father through the crisis.
It was three years ago that he threw the Moulin Rouge themed for his daughter where she wore a £3,000 replica dress from the movie. She was also treated to a show by Tulisa Contostavlos and her group N-dubz. The singer is now a judge on X Factor.
The party was featured on music channel MTV’S My Super Sweet 16 – even though she was only turning 15. The reality show documents the extravagant lives and parties of teenagers with wealthy parents.
Her mother Caroline was reported as saying at the time: ‘I’m really not sure of exactly how much this party cost, but it was absolutely worth it. I love organising Anysha’s parties and sit for hours thinking of themes.’
Panesar backed his girl’s ambition to be a model and beauty queen, leading to her victory as America’s Perfect Teen in 2010 while at the family holiday home in Florida. She also became the first international cover girl on SuperModels magazine, and won Miss Teen Great Britain International in 2010.
On her Twitter site, where she poses in a leopard-skin bikini, privately educated Anysha describes herself as an international model, TV presenter, pageant coach and image consultant.
Her victory as America’s Perfect Teen – which has a huge following in the US, upset other contestants because she wasn’t American. Her family said this was ‘sour grapes’.
Yesterday Panesar said of the court case: ‘It’s one of those things. I’m going to appeal.’