Marco’s wife sets the DIY fir flying

THE estranged wife of thricemarried Marco Pierre White says she is so hard up that she’s had to build her own Christmas tree.

‘ Things are bad,’ says Mati Conejero, who wed the restaurateur in 2000 and filed for divorce seven years later. ‘I usually buy a 6ft fir, but I thought I’d save the £75 cost by creating my own [right] out of old logs and twigs and spend the money on my daughter.’

Mati, 52, who lives in a rented house in Chiswick, West London, has saved on decorations by adding spangly hats, a guitar and some strands of tinsel . ‘I have a lot of bills to pay and can’t afford to waste money. Those days have gone.’

The couple, who have three

children, gave up on finalising a divorce after years of protracted negotiations, with the legal bill reputedly reaching £3 million. ‘I don’t want to talk about Marco or blame him, but I do fear for my future,’ says Mati.

Legal bill: Marco and Mati