A pretty model who dated striker Stan Collymore an
A pretty model who dated striker Stan Collymore and
ex-Neighbours star Stefan Dennis wept in court today (mon) as she described to the Old Bailey how her jealous husband ‘ruined her life’.
Kim James, 29, was giving evidence against her husband Simon, 34, who allegedly fitted her up on drugs charges to win custody of their three-year-old son Daniel.
And under cross-examination the aerobics instructor was asked whether ex-Liverpool star Collymore had taken drugs during their brief relationship.
‘Did Mr Collymore use cocaine?’ asked her husband’s defence counsel Anthony Jennings.
‘I have no idea,’ replied a puzzled Mrs James.
She told Mr Jennings that she was not a drug user herself and had even fallen out with her brother after she heard he had used drugs.
The jury have heard Mr James subjected Kim to a sustained hate campaign after he was denied access to their child by a High Court ruling.
The cynical plot included slashing her tyre with a Stanley knife and hiding amphetamines in her car.
On another occasion 15 grammes cocaine was discovered by police officers after it had been allegedly planted in the boot of her vehicle.
It also emerged that as an 18-year-old Mrs James had also dated Australian star Dennis, and then sold her story to the News of the World.
The court have heard during the course of her evidence that she also dated ex-Liverpool defender Phil Babb.
Mrs James told the jury that three days after her arrest she angrily hurled a wedding album at her husband’s front door.
‘I threw it at his front door myself.
I drove to the front door and I threw it at the front door.
I ripped the pages inside.
‘
The young mother broke down as she was asked to look at the album by Mr Jennings.
‘This man ruined my life.
I don’t want to look at it again,’ she sobbed.
‘There was a certain amount of animosity because of the way I had been treated.
‘The last thing I ever wanted was to be in this position,’ concluded Mrs James.
It is claimed that her husband used police informant Dave Courtney, 41, to help set up his wife.
Other members of the gang recruited by the spiteful husband included a corrupt cop and a private eye.
James Cook, 45, was allegedly recruited to plant 15 grammes of cocaine in the boot of the woman’s Fiat Punto.
A police surveillance operation snared Courtney, Det Con Austin Warnes, 47, and private investigator Jonathan Rees, 46, as they made plans to set up the the young Mum.
Courtney, of Camelot Castle, Plumstead, south-east London, student James, of Northcote Road, Battersea, Rees of Grange Road, Thornton Heath, and Cook, of the Treetops, the Glades, Kingswood, Surrey, all deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between May 5 1999 and September 25 1999.
Cook also has addresses in Wolseley Road, Mitcham Junction and in Nightingale Close, Carshalton.
Warnes, of Heath Road, Dartford, has admitted the charge and he will be sentenced later.
The trial continues.
ends
