The Mail on Sunday

Stunt ‘rubbed cocaine on his gums in court’

- By Ben Ellery

THE former husband of Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone rubbed cocaine on his gums during a court hearing about t heir £ 5 bil l i on divorce, it was claimed last night.

James Stunt, 36, was allegedly seen taking something from a cigarette packet and putting it into his mouth at a session.

On the same day last June, it is also claimed he barged into his father- in- law, the ex- Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, and made a gun gesture towards him in court. He later made an obscene gesture at photograph­ers as he left the hearing.

Last night, Mr Stunt ‘categorica­lly denied’ the allegation­s, calling them ‘completely ridiculous’.

An associate of Mr Stunt, a gold bullion dealer, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘During the divorce someone who was in court confided in me that James was dabbing something from a cigarette packet and rubbing it on his gums. I had seen him do the same thing with cocaine.

‘It was the same time he made gun gestures in court at Bernie and came out and gave the cameras the middle finger. He looked deranged.’ The new allegation­s emerged just hours after one of Mr Stunt’s former bodyguards claimed he had provided a fake urine sample to help the businessma­n win access to the three young children he has with Ms Ecclestone.

Justin Kalnutis told Mail Online he and a friend each received £150 to provide ‘ clean’ samples that would mask Mr Stunt’s drug use.

Last night, the associate alleged that Mr Stunt would take ‘massive quantities’ of cocaine and that the bodyguard’s allegation­s tallied with his experience­s of him.

‘He would refuse to take drugs tests. He would say, “I don’t do drugs”, but I’d just sat there watching him taking a huge amount,’ he said. ‘He would claim he wouldn’t take a drugs test because he didn’t want someone taking out handfuls of his hair. The stuff was of phar- maceutical purity and he was taking it in huge amounts.’

According to the associate, Mr Stunt rubbed cocaine on his gums because of damage to his septum due to snorting the drug.

Mr Stunt, who married Ms Ecclestone in 2011, has previously admitted drug misuse. In an interview with Tatler this year, he said he had taken cocaine ‘about five times’ as a teenager and that he had struggled with addictions to morphine and Valium after his wedding.

‘Being the addictive personalit­y I am, I start taking them like Smarties. Suddenly, I’m addicted,’ he said, adding that people often mistook his ADHD for drug use.

The associate said he was also surprised by the lengths to which Mr Stunt allegedly went to secure access to his children.

‘I never saw him being close to his children and couldn’t understand why he was fighting for custody,’ he said. ‘I think it was more he felt he had been slighted and couldn’t be seen to lose face.’ Last night, Mr Stunt said that while he had ‘ taken cocaine on occasion’ he had never done so on a huge scale. He added: ‘ These allegation­s are from disgruntle­d employees and I’m astonished they’re being taken seriously.

‘I would never cheat on a urine test. To suggest that I don’t love my children is simply monstrous and completely untrue.’

‘He dabbed something from a cigarette packet’

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? DIVORCED: James Stunt and his ex-wife Petra Ecclestone
DIVORCED: James Stunt and his ex-wife Petra Ecclestone
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom