London tycoon David West 'controlled' son accused of murdering him
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Version 0 of 1. Millionaire businessman David West patronised and controlled his son – who is now accused of his murder – and lived by the motto “my money, my rules”, a jury has been told. West, 70, labelled the “king of the booze cruise” after he built a business empire on his Calais-based alcohol and tobacco warehouse, EastEnders, regularly argued with his son, also called David, as they tried to rescue the family business from ruin, his personal assistant told the Old Bailey on Wednesday. Related: Son accused of murdering notorious London nightclub owner Oksana Stanzione said rows between West and his son were a “way of life” but the tycoon would also regularly “scream and shout” at his employees. West Jr, 45, is alleged to have plunged a kitchen knife into the tycoon’s neck and chest as he lay slumped on the stairs of his £2.5m home in Jermyn Street, in central London, after a blazing row at their neighbouring Piccadilly restaurant, Abracadabra. Stanzione told the court that West Sr, her boss of eight years, was loving and protective towards his son, but was also patronising, controlling and lived by the motto “my money, my rules”. “They both loved each other, they just had difficulties,” she told the jury. “Arguments were normal, there were always arguments; it was just the way of life. “David Sr most of all loved David Jr, and David Jr was very loyal to David Sr. “Both of them had very strong relationships and they had a very long relationship, not only as father and son but as employer and employee. They did argue on a regular basis but that was normal.” West Sr, who bought the title of Lord of the Manor of Hollesley, switched his attention to restaurants and clubs in the West End after his booze cruise business collapsed in 2011. His son returned from France to rejoin him and was given a Piccadilly nightclub, Pigalle, to run, but Stanzione told the court that his father had refused to relinquish control. “The father treated the son as a son, he didn’t really accept the fact he had grown up – very often he was patronising,” she said. “Big David was quite old by that time, and didn’t accept the modern ways of running things, so they had big arguments.” Stanzione, who dated West Jr for a year in 2012 and 2013, said he tried to move away from the family business during that period by moving to the south coast of England, but returned to London when his father’s health began to fail. West Sr employed Cherie Booth QC to represent him in a legal challenge to the smoking ban introduced by her husband, Tony Blair. Stanzione told the court: “He would seek legal advice and go against the legal advice. He accrued millions in legal fees and would lose the case; he would fight for small things, not important things, and pay a lot of money for it.” She said his son became increasingly concerned about his father’s handling of the business. “David Jr was trying to make sure he stopped drinking,” she told the court. “We were trying to get him into hospital. The health of David Sr was deteriorating and David Jr was trying to make him live a bit longer.” The stabbing happened just before 6pm on 12 December, after West Sr had sacked his son following a blazing row over a set of keys. West Jr allegedly told his girlfriend that he had “had enough” and vowed to “go out with a bang” as he set off to commit the murder. West Jr denies murder. |