Bernie’s girl racks up £4m fashion debt

WHEN Petra Stunt told her father, Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, she was launching a fashion line, he called her ‘stark raving mad’ — so she named it Stark.

Five years on, his words have proved prescient, for Petra seems to have inherited none of her wealthy father’s business acumen.

In fact, the 27- year- old’s fashion accessories business has racked up nearly £4.2 million of debt according to the latest set of accounts — up £170,000 on the previous year.

Petra, who is the sole director and shareholder of Stark, launched her business in September 2011 — one month after she married entrepreneur James Stunt in a lavish £12 million affair at Odescalchi Castle in Italy. The company makes handbags and purses from python and alligator skin, each costing between £400 and £3,000.

In 2008 the mother-of-three launched a men’s clothing company, Form, which went bust after only 14 months despite help from Bernie.

‘Stark was put on hold in the spring of 2015 to allow Petra to focus on being a mother of three young children,’ said a spokesman last year. ‘Start-up brands take many years to build.’

A spokesman declines to comment on the latest figures.

Last year proved to be full of unwelcome distractions for Petra and her husband.

A petrol bomb was thrown at their house; Petra’s husband James, 34, meanwhile, had the offices of his gold bullion firm searched by police in September (he alleges he is a victim of theft) and his 37-year- old brother Lee was found dead at his parents’ Surrey mansion.