Businessman accused of assaulting ex-girlfriend and Miss Universe finalist Chloe Othen claims she told him another boyfriend beat her up
A businessman accused of assaulting his model ex-girlfriend says he has never been in a fight before and that she told him her previous boyfriend 'used to beat her up'.
Ricky Lawrence, 33, is accused of pinning down, punching and repeatedly biting Chloe Othen, 34, at his £1.5million Knightsbridge home on October 15, 2022, after inviting her over.
Ms Othen has told Aldersgate House Crown Court she thought she would die after Lawrence 'beat the cr*p' out of her.
Jurors heard Lawrence later sent messages to Ms Othen saying: 'I will do everything in my power to f**k you up.'
The pair had been in a relationship for around six months between December 2021 and May 2022 but remained 'on and off' after it ended.
Ms Othen, a Miss Universe GB finalist in 2015 and internet influencer with more than 280,000 Instagram followers, had been at Lawrence's apartment in Hans Place when a conversation between the pair led to her feeling she needed to leave.
Ms Othen's partner, Hatton Garden jeweller Bora Guccuk, 41, called her and Lawrence picked up the phone, threatening to stab them both, jurors have heard.
Lawrence gave evidence on Friday, June 6, wearing a light grey suit and a blue tie.
He said he owns a tailoring company and first met Ms Othen outside a restaurant in Kensington.
'I first met her outside a restaurant on Sloane Street. That would have been at the tail end of 2021,' he said. 'I was going in, she was leaving. We had a brief interchange and that was it.'
Mr Wyatt asked Lawrence: 'Were you aware that she had a relationship with Bora Guccuk?'
He replied: 'I knew that she had been on and off with someone'.
Lawrence explained that on one occasion, he had met Guccuk at the Cirque le Soir nightclub in the West End where Ms Othen had taken him for a friends birthday party.
He said that Mr Guccuk had confronted him, and that they had not seen each other after that. Lawrence said that at one point he had seen Ms Othen with a red mark on her face.
'She had a mark on the side of her face. It looked like a footprint. It was a round mark. It was a red round mark,' he said.
He claimed that Ms Othen had told him that Mr Guccuk was violent towards her.
'She always described the relationship as violent. She said he used to beat her up, things of that nature,' he told the court.
Lawrence said they broke up because he worked full time and she would often be out late.
Mr Wyatt asked Lawrence: 'Have you ever bitten anyone?' to which he replied: 'Absolutely not. I'd never even had a fight'.
He claimed that after they had broken up in May 2022, he had called the police when she refused to leave his house.
'When she realised I was on the phone to the police that's when she left', said Lawrence.
Mr Wyatt said: 'She said that the two of you decided to try for a baby. Were you interested in that idea?'
'Absolutely not', replied Lawrence.
Mr Wyatt asked him how he had felt when Ms Othen told him she was pregnant.
He replied: 'Awful. The way she is, that is not what you want from a mother'.
He admitted that he had confronted her at a restaurant in Cannes in the south of France during the Film Festival.
'That evening I did approach her. I said what are you doing here, why are you drinking if you're pregnant. She was clearly intoxicated at that point.'
He insisted that was the only time they had spoken in Cannes.
'I didn't see her at any other time. We didn't cross paths at any time other than that,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Body found by police investigating disappearance of woman
A body has been found by police in the search for a Colombian woman who disappeared after leaving her east London home. Yajaira Castro Mendez, 46, was reported missing to the Metropolitan Police on May 31 having left her home in Ilford on the morning of May 29. Her family has been told about the discovery of the body, which was found during searches in Hampshire's Bolderwood area on Saturday, but formal identification has yet to be made. Detective Inspector Jay Gregory, who is leading the investigation, said: 'This is a very sad development in the investigation and our thoughts are very much with Yajaira's family and friends at this incredibly difficult time. 'We continue to appeal to anyone with information that could assist the investigation to please come forward.' A post-mortem examination has yet to take place. The police said a man who was known to Ms Castro Mendez appeared in court on Friday charged with her murder and was remanded into custody. Her disappearance was initially treated as a missing person investigation led by local officers. The investigation was then transferred to the Met's Specialist Crime Command on June 5, after a range of extensive further inquiries suggested she had come to harm. Police were at a scene in Gray's Inn Road, Camden, on Friday as part of their investigation.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
British businessman accused of spying for China reported to a Red Army agent with close ties to Chinese president Xi
A British businessman accused of spying for China reported to a high-ranking intelligence officer closely linked to President Xi Jinping, The Mail on Sunday has learned. John Miller, who the MoS last week revealed was the subject of an FBI sting operation, was arrested with his 'handler', Cui Guanghai, just hours before they were due to board a flight to Beijing. Both men are accused of trying to buy weapons and sensitive military technology in the United States for the People's Liberation Army. This newspaper can now reveal that Cui, 43, is an Edinburgh University graduate suspected of working for China's military intelligence and described as 'important' to President Xi. Court documents claim Miller, a 63-year-old recruitment specialist from Tunbridge Wells, was 'working for and being directed by' Cui. The two men were once pictured together in London 's Chinatown. Other images on social media show Cui and his wife at locations in Edinburgh, Dublin and London, including the Houses of Parliament. Britain's security services are understood to be liaising with the FBI, examining both Cui's activities in the UK and Miller's background. Last night Miller's sister Avril said: 'I am totally devastated and shocked, but it has nothing to do with me. I last saw him at a wedding 14 years ago.' The MoS revealed last week that Miller was caught on intercepted phone calls referring to Xi as 'the boss', suggesting he was acting under the control of the Chinese government. Now it can be disclosed that Miller once accompanied Cui on a business trip to Colonel Gaddafi-era Libya, a country with close economic ties to China. A family friend said: 'He [Miller] told me he was starting a business building prefab houses for Africa which he was having made in China.' The detention of Cui and Miller in Belgrade, Serbia – where they remain under house arrest – is believed to have led to a diplomatic row. China's ambassador to Serbia, Li Ming, is said to have clashed with the country's interior minister, Ivica Dacic. A source said Mr Li demanded to know why Cui – whom he called 'our agent' and 'important' to President Xi – was arrested at the behest of the FBI. China is the biggest foreign investor in Serbia. Miller and Cui were seized at the city's Hyatt Regency Hotel on April 24 having flown in from Hungary where they met business associates – and apparently fell into an FBI trap. Sources say agents waited for Cui to leave China for Europe before issuing the arrest order. Both men now face extradition to the US. It is not clear how Cui and Miller first met. The Englishman once ran a company bringing Chinese students to the UK, while his son from his first marriage has been based in China for years and is a close friend of Cui. Court documents claim Miller organised the surveillance and harassment of a Chinese-American artist critical of Beijing, telling a henchman to make him an 'offer he can't refuse... like The Godfather'. Miller has been charged in the US with smuggling, stalking and violations of the Arms Export Control Act. If convicted, both he and Cui face up to 40 years in prison. A 14-page indictment filed in Wisconsin alleges that Miller was caught in a sting after arms dealers he was negotiating with turned out to be undercover FBI agents. Family and friends of Miller, who described him as outgoing and charismatic, expressed astonishment at the news. The son of a builder from the Gorbals in Glasgow, Miller grew up one of six children on a council estate in Coventry, sharing a bedroom with his three brothers. A family friend said he had 'a real drive about him and was always looking for the next big thing'. They added: 'He had a hard time growing up and was driven by success. He wanted a nice life; he wasn't going to stay on a council estate. Eight of them in a three-bed house wasn't easy. And then their mum died when she was only 43. That was tough for all of them. Of them all, Johnny was a bit different, a one-off. 'He always had big ambitions.' Miller went into the Armed Forces, becoming a boxer representing the Royal Navy. It was during this time he met his first wife, 'a Puerto Rican beauty', with whom he had two children. They lived in the US, where Miller retains residency status, but later divorced. His daughter from his second marriage attended one of England's top public schools. Friends describe a chequered business history. Miller has been a director or a majority shareholder of at least nine firms, including a courier company. 'When I last saw him at a wedding over ten years ago, he was flying,' said a friend. 'His company had bases in London and New York, and he drove a nice Saab.' But at some point his fortunes waned and he was reduced to asking family and friends for loans. 'I think he saw an opportunity in China,' said another friend. 'He was hyperactive when it came to work.' The US court documents allege that Miller attempted to procure equipment including surface-to-air missiles, predator drones and a handheld device for the secure communication of 'classified and sensitive national security information'. A second 67-page indictment, filed in California, accuses Miller and Cui, also known as 'Jack', of targeting artist Hui Bo, who had created an 'embarrassing' sculpture of Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan naked from the waist up. Transcripts between Miller and an associate allege they discussed shooting Hui or hitting him with a baseball bat.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Four hundred rookie Marines made to do gruelling 'mud run' after around a dozen fellow recruits are caught stealing from the camp's self-service canteen
It is the kind of old-fashioned discipline that was thought to have disappeared from even our elite Armed Forces. But in a move hailed as a blow against modern ' woke ' culture, the entire contingent of trainee Royal Marines has just been forced to crawl through mud to pay for the 'sins' of a handful of their colleagues. Hundreds of rookie commandos were ordered to do the Marines' 'mud run' after only a dozen or so fellow recruits were caught pilfering the camp's canteen. The run involves crawling through foul-smelling silt outside their training base in Devon in an exercise so gruelling that some ex-commandos thought it had been abolished. But defence sources confirmed last night that around 400 fit and able recruits had undergone the mud run. A source told The Mail on Sunday: 'They were putting stuff through the self-service canteen checkout without scanning some items and the mass mud run was ordered as a result.' But far from criticising the 'mass punishment', current and former Marines heaped praise on commanders at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone. One former commando said: 'This has gone down very well after decades of suffocating 'woke' culture in the Forces.' A source at the base said: 'This was a big call by the CO and, quite frankly, all the instructors welcomed it. Those people who were caught stealing didn't just let themselves down – they let their mates down. 'The vast majority of those who faced the mud were innocent but this sends a message to all that theft will not be tolerated.' Former Defence Minister and ex-regular Army captain Tobias Ellwood said: 'At first glance, this collective punishment may seem excessive. However, this is the military – not civilian life. 'Fighting units, especially elite forces like the Marines, function best when there is absolute trust and discipline within the ranks and loyalty to the team. They train as one and fight as one, and such punishment reinforces their cohesion and unity.' Commanders were understood to have been furious at the thefts, regarded as one of the worst offences in the Marines because it undermines the integrity of their 'corps ethos'. However, last night, defence sources said that officers in charge at Lympstone regarded the incident as closed, with no further action to be taken against the offending trainees.
