Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs at her door while late husband Derek was in a coma in hospital

Kate Garraway has revealed she had bailiffs at her door after unknowingly not paying her council tax whilst her late husband was in hospital in a coma.
The presenter opened up about the 'horrible' ordeal on Good Morning Britain on Friday (20 June), telling guest Martin Lewis that the letters were in Derek Draper 's name and she had not opened them whilst he was in hospital.
Garraway said she had 'no idea' that the council tax was going unpaid for six weeks and was shocked when bailiffs appeared at her property in late 2020.
She told Lewis, who is campaigning to change the way councils call in debts of unpaid council tax, that her mind was 'in another place' as she cared for her late husband who fell seriously ill with long Covid.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mail​

32 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Art dealer's withering verdict on Petra Ecclestone's ex James Stunt

Cleared of all charges relating to a £266 million money-laundering scam – unlike his four fellow co-defendants, three of whom are on the run – James Stunt, who was declared bankrupt in 2019, argues that the value of his artworks, currently held by museums and galleries, is greater in value than his debts. But I can disclose that perhaps the most impeccably informed of Stunt's old acquaintances disagrees. New York art dealer Ezra Chowaiki, released from a US prison in 2020 after a 13-month stretch for fraud, first met the self-styled gold bullion dealer one weekend in 2015, when Stunt was still married to Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone. What followed was so extraordinary that it helped spur Chowaiki into writing an eye-popping expose of the art world, the basis for a documentary now in development. 'Even within the absurd circus that is the high-end art world, Stunt stood out as a master clown,' Chowaiki tells me from New York, recalling their first encounter during which Stunt asserted that his Rolls was 'the only truly bulletproof car in England' and 'worth £1 million'. At his Mayfair office – which resembled 'something between Miami Vice and Succession' – Stunt reached into a safe, threw an object into Chowaiki's lap and asked: 'Do you know how much that's worth?' It was a gold ingot. Chowaiki then offered Stunt a painting. It was, aptly, a clown by Salvador Dali, priced £1.16million. Stunt responded by getting out his phone, showing Chowaiki two paintings by French artist Georges Braque and saying that he'd trade them for the Dali and $1million. Saying that he'd think about it, Chowaiki left London. In the following week, he alleges, he was 'hounded' by Stunt, who now offered the Braques for the Dali plus $500,000, and sent a series of 'increasingly deranged and voluminous texts'. Chowaiki insisted that Stunt send him photos of the Braques in their frames. 'The images he had sent could have been scanned from books,' reflects Chowaiki, who says that he had severe doubts about the authenticity of one of the paintings in particular. He had one last exchange with Stunt, who lent several paintings to Dumfries House – saved for the nation by King Charles – only for it to emerge that a number of them were fakes. Called by Stunt, who was seeking guidance about how to have the Picassos in his collection authenticated, Chowaiki explained that they should be submitted to Picasso's son, Claude. He recalls that Stunt asked in a 'hushed' tone: 'Do you think Claude could The comment (presumably a joke) made Chowaiki laugh, he recalls, before he explained to Stunt that Claude 'would never compromise himself'. A source close to Stunt says that the visit to his office couldn't have happened as he did not have access to his office at weekend. Doubtless Stunt is speaking in good faith, besides which, as his former butler, John Gilmour, told the Mail On Sunday last month, he frequently enjoyed Sunday lunch with his godfather, convicted crime baron Terry Adams. But one wonders if he has failed, in this instance, to take into account his past cocaine addiction and the consequent damage that it might have done to his memory. Chowaiki's texts for the weekend in question unequivocally show that Stunt asked to meet him on September 27, 2015. The source additionally insists he did not toss a gold ingot as Chowaiki suggests and denies that Stunt ever asked whether Claude Picasso could be influenced. Chowaiki, aware that he blotted his own copybook, counters: 'As unreliable a narrator as I may be, I'm still better than most in this field. Plus, I keep my texts.' Double take as 'Kate' parties at Annabel's The Princess of Wales's absence from Royal Ascot was much remarked-upon, and some at Annabel's summer solstice party were convinced they had spotted her at the private members club in Mayfair. However, on closer inspection, they realised it was Meg Bellamy, who played the younger version of Catherine in drama The Crown. The actress, 22, wore a white mini dress, and one guest tells me: 'I had to do a double take.' Hancock's new ink Matt Hancock's reinvention continues. The former Tory MP, 46, resigned as health secretary after CCTV showed him kissing and embracing Gina Coladangelo, his aide, at Whitehall in breach of Covid distancing restrictions in 2021. The pair were both married to other people. This week, his daughter Hope, 18, announced online: 'My dad got a tattoo today. Mid-life crisis.' Hancock declines to say which design is now inked on his body – or on which part of his anatomy – telling me: 'I'm not commenting.' Not like him… Brian's boozy podcast appearance Recalling actor Brian Cox's recent appearance on her podcast, chef Angela Hartnett mischievously claims the Succession star, 79, got tipsy on margaritas before going on the West End stage that night. With Cox playing JS Bach in The Score at the time, Hartnett quips: 'We just got Brian Cox drunk, it was fine. He went on to do a show later, it was amazing.' Podcast co-host Nick Grimshaw says: 'He got right on it.' Surely not! Dominic West and Alexandra Tolstoy share trek's appeal Dominic West once trekked to the South Pole with Prince Harry, who later shunned him. But The Affair star's latest adventure found him saddling up with a far more appealing companion. Alexandra Tolstoy, 51, rode horseback across Kyrgyzstan with West, 55, for a new documentary. 'It's a bit embarrassing I haven't watched The Wire,' she says of one of the actor's most celebrated TV dramas. 'But it's been so much fun.' Author and broadcaster Tolstoy is a tourism ambassador for the former Soviet state. Royal fiction is foul play The Royal Family may feel they have enough to contend with from America, especially its West Coast. But things can deteriorate further, judging by a play now being performed off Broadway. It would be a challenge to summarise Prince Faggot – the play's title – as merely 'imaginative', given that it features a fetish mask and recreational drugs and other activities which would look more in place in Fifty Shades Of Grey. A programme note asserts that all the text is fictional and adds that 'any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental'. Yet playwright Jordan Tannahill opts for a central character called Prince George, son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate. Shame on Tannahill. The smart set's talking about Henry's Royal Ascot role Carriage three in the Royal Procession caught the eye at Royal Ascot, thanks to the elegant figure of Harriet Sperling, the paediatric nurse accompanying the King's nephew, Peter Phillips, just over a year after the couple – both divorced – were first seen together in public. Their marital histories would once have made their attendance unthinkable, but this more forgiving era had another beneficiary – in carriage four. Not Lady Joanna Morton Jack, the Earl and Countess of Halifax's only daughter, but Joanna's husband, judge's son Henry Morton Jack. A barrister of brilliance, he's described as 'hugely talented' by Chambers legal directory. But he's not always been quite so upright... most memorably at a Madonna film premiere party in his youth when he and his chum, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's son, Lord Freddie Windsor, took a little too much refreshment. Tuesday was certainly a day to build up a thirst but, happily, Henry, 46, remained splendidly vertical. How divorced Luke finally beat drugs Rupert Murdoch's former grandson-in-law, British rapper Luke 'Lukey' Storey, has spoken publicly for the first time about the addiction that destroyed his marriage to the media magnate's granddaughter – just 12 hours after they said 'I do'. Charlotte Freud, 24, daughter of media executive Elisabeth Murdoch and PR supremo Matthew Freud, married Luke in 2022 in a star-studded Cotswolds wedding with guests including Woody Harrelson and Claudia Winkleman. But behind the spectacle, the couple were already teetering on the brink. 'We had been married for 12 hours when our whole world fell apart,' Charlotte later admitted. Luke relapsed on the way to their honeymoon. What followed was a turbulent, 14-month marriage marked by mutual attempts at recovery – and frequent collapse. for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London. 'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits. Luke, 39, now says: 'I ruined a lot of relationships while I was using – people I loved dearly, close friends, family. You can't heal relationships while you're still actively hurting yourself.' Sarah's bond with Kemi She may have fallen out with David 'man-baby' Cameron, but my colleague Sarah Vine enjoys warmer relations with the current Tory leader. Kemi Badenoch joined guests including Kirstie Allsopp and Piers Morgan at the launch party for Sarah's memoir, How Not To Be A Political Wife, at Hatchards in Piccadilly, London. 'It wasn't easy writing this book – and for some it will be an equally difficult read,' she admits. (Very) modern manners The love lives of Fern Britton's daughters are providing inspiration for her novels. 'Grace has a lovely partner, but Winnie is single, and whilst she's a very attractive girl, it all seems so difficult now,' says Fern, 67, who separated from their father, TV chef Phil Vickery, in 2020. 'In the 1970s, a man would come and say, 'Oh, do you want to go out?' and you'd reply, 'Yes, thank you'. Now, it seems they're all giving each other therapy about someone they've been seeing for ten days.' She tells Saga magazine: 'I was intrigued about how these relationships work and wanted to explore that a bit.'

The Independent

an hour ago

• The Independent

Palestine Action to be banned after vandalism of planes at RAF base

The Home Secretary is preparing to ban Palestine Action following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base. Yvette Cooper has decided to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine. The incident is being also investigated by counter terror police. A spokesperson for Palestine Action accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide. The spokesperson said: 'When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.' The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'. Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company Wagner Group. Another 14 organisations connected with Northern Ireland are also banned under previous legislation, including the IRA and UDA. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Friday's incident at Brize Norton, described by the Prime Minister as 'disgraceful', prompted calls for Palestine Action to be banned. The group has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire. The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe the group, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.' CAA chief executive Gideon Falter urged the Home Secretary to proscribe the Houthi rebel group and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, adding: 'This country needs to clamp down on the domestic and foreign terrorists running amok on our soil.' Former home secretary Suella Braverman said it was 'absolutely the correct decision'. But Tom Southerden, of Amnesty International UK, said the human rights organisation was 'deeply concerned at the use of counter terrorism powers to target protest groups'. Mr Southerden said: 'Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them. 'Instead of suppressing protest against the UK's military support for Israel, the UK should be taking urgent action to prevent Israel's genocide and end any risk of UK complicity in it.'

The Sun

an hour ago

• The Sun

Murderer caught after cops follow trail of blood from victim, 47, who was stabbed in TV remote row as son pays tribute

A MURDERER was caught after cops followed a trail of blood from the victim after he was stabbed in a TV remote row. James Murray, 47, died in Wythenshawe, Manchester, after being fatally knifed by his flatmate Scott Thomson, 57. 2 2 The pair of pals had moved in together after initially meeting at a hostel. But as the months went by the "co-dependent" relationship soured as Thomson became increasingly suspicious of his flatmate. Tensions surrounding a new TV bought for the flat began to flare, with Thomson claiming that Murray was hogging the remote. On December 4 last year, an argument over the TV remote escalated, with tragic consequences. Thomson grabbed a 19cm blade and lashed out at his flatmate with the large knife causing fatal damage. The weapon caused an 8cm wound, penetrating through Murray's ribcage and going "straight into his heart". He manage to stagger outside bleeding but Murray then collapsed and died in the street despite the efforts of paramedics to save him. A trail of blood led officers to Thomson's flat, where further evidence of the violent altercation was discovered. Thomson fled the scene but was arrested the next day after approaching cops and admitting his involvement. Thomson was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 18 years for killing Murray in a hearing at Manchester Crown Court yesterday. In a powerful victim impact statement read out in court, James' son said: 'I would like to pass on thanks to my family liaison officer for all the help and support they have provided to me and my family throughout this process. "There is no way to fully express the depth of pain and loss that my father's murder has caused. 'My dad, James, was funny, laid back, and incredibly personable. He had a gift for making people laugh, often by winding us up in a way that only he could. "That was his way—he brought joy and light into every room he entered. He may not have been an angel, he may not have lived the best life, but he was my dad. 'Since the day he was taken from us, my life has changed completely. I am constantly reminded of what has happened. I consistently feel the pain of his murder, there is not a day that goes by that I don't feel the weight of his absence. "I struggle to sleep. I struggle to have a 'normal' day. Even the simplest things have become difficult without him here. 'What hurts the most is knowing that due to Scott Thompson taking my dad's life, I no longer have the opportunity to create new memories with my dad or share my life with him. No milestones, no quiet chats, no laughter, no future together. "The loss of his life is greater than just the loss of a person—it's the loss of time, connection, and a relationship that can never be replaced. 'No sentence can bring him back, but I hope justice can reflect the seriousness of the pain inflicted on our family, and the irreplaceable life that was taken from us. 'The way in which James was taken from the world is a constant memory, a constant image for which I will never be able to unsee and this being solely due to Scott Thomson's actions on December 4 2024. 'I want Scott Thomson to know his actions will never be forgotten or forgiven.' If he is ever released from prison Thomson will be subject to licence for the rest of his life. Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe said: 'Firstly, our thoughts remain with James' family and friends at this time. 'This was a tragic and totally avoidable incident that highlights the devastating impact knife crime can have. There is no doubt that this issue could have been resolved without weapons. 'Today's sentencing should be a strong deterrent for those carrying and using a knife.'