Housekeeper ‘threatened to poison Whyte’
Theft trial told of letter menacing ex-rangers owner
Thursday 24 OcTOber 2013 FORMER Rangers owner Craig Whyte has claimed a housekeeper accused of stealing from his Highland castle threatened to poison him.
Mr Whyte said he discovered an e-mail with the threat while searching the staff quarters of Jane Hagen and Terence Horan, the caretakers on trial for theft from Castle Grant in Grantownon-Spey.
He also claimed Hagen had made a menacing remark about harming his young daughter by cleaning a toilet with her toothbrush.
The astonishing allegations were made by Mr Whyte during the second day of a trial at Inverness Sheriff Court against Hagen
jane and Horan, accused of stealing from the Moray castle between June and September last year.
Mr Whyte faced cross-examination from the former housekeepers’ lawyers and denied he had asked them to store his valuables while being chased by sheriff officers for alleged debts.
He stated from the witness stand: “That is an absolute lie.”
Mr Whyte also denied tampering with a letter on a computer in the couple’s quarters which was allegedly written by Hagen and “confessed” to a plan to remove “high-value” property before the bailiffs moved in.
He told the court that, after getting locksmiths to break into the staff accommodation to check out his suspicions about property being stolen, his then- girlfriend discovered the letter which was critical of Mr Whyte at a time that Rangers was being put into administration.
The letter, allegedly written by Hagen, stated: “We are going to remove some high-value things as it looks as if the bailiffs will take the rest and we want to make sure that we don’t lose out.”
During his evidence, Mr Whyte said he discovered an array of property missing from his home on returning from a holiday with his children.
He said it included 40th birthday gifts and expensive watches, including a Cartier valued at around £1,000.
The letter described Mr Whyte as a bad man who treated his family badly. It said: “Our boss has been behaving rather badly. We have always known he is not the nicest person in business and his living is mostly made by dubious means.
“Before we went to the States in March I had started to become friends with his ex-wife.
“Talking to her not only confirms our suspicions that he is not a good man but we found he has treated her and her family and his family in the most appalling way.
“He has bankrupted his own father and due to this he has lost his home not once but three times and he still uses him to do his dirty work.”
The letter continued: “It was rather distressing news for us. Not only do we both lose our jobs but also lose our home and will have to move from a place that we absolutely love.
“In the past few months he has been served with loads of court papers and the wolves are howling at his door. He is in all sorts of trouble with the law over his ownership of Rangers Football Club, with some pretty serious threats of going to prison over his illegal activities.”
Hagen’s lawyer Willie Young said to Mr Whyte that his client and her partner were being besieged at the time by sheriff officers, suppliers who had al- legedly not been paid, and banks chasing after their boss.
They also had to do anti-terrorist training with police after threats were made against their employer, the court heard.
Mr Whyte said that, in addition to the letter, he found e-mails on the computer making “threats against my daughter and another where she [Hagen] threatened to poison me”.
He added: “She said she was cleaning my daughter’s toilet with her toothbrush.”
Mr Young said there was no mention of these threats in his police statements, to which Mr Whyte replied: “The police were more interested in the theft.”
Mr Whyte’s estranged wife Kim also gave evidence and claimed Horan and Hagen said they intended to “take stuff” in lieu of unpaid wages.
Asked if she remained loyal to her husband, she replied: “Not a lot. That would be a no.”
Both Horan, 53, and Hagen, 50, now of Bicester, Oxfordshire, deny theft. The list of items allegedly stolen include a quad bike, coins, a hip flask, cufflinks, a telescope, a photo album, two jumpers and a bin.