£8.4m Turneround

Anthea makes huge profit on her house..as her creditors get nothing

HARD TIMES: Anthea is selling up

LAVISH PILE: Set to sell for £10.6 million

The devil wears Primark!

The credit crunch has forced Anthea Turner to become a recessionista

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By Dan Evans, 14/06/2009

FORMER TV golden girl Anthea Turner and hubby Grant Bovey will make £8.4 million on the sale of their mansion - but won't have to pay a penny of it to creditors owed thousands from their bankrupt firm.

Their lavish pile in Godalming, Surrey is selling for £10.6 million, up from the £2.2 million they paid for it in 1999.

And that's certain to enrage the 75 unsecured creditors owed £389,648 when their company Imagine Furnishings went under in December.

A source told us: "The debts belong to the firm and now Grant and Anthea have resigned as directors they're under no personal obligation to pay the outstanding money back."

Barbins Grange stands in 57 acres, has a polo field, helicopter pad, library, wine cellar, stables and cinema as well as a tennis court and pavilion built without planning permission which the council has ordered must go.

The source said: "Anthea and Grant have done very well to secure such a high value. It helped that something of a bidding war began and they've been able to take their pick of possible buyers."

The sale looks set to go through in the next two weeks and the couple, who pocketed £120,000 for their appearance on ITV1 show Hell's Kitchen, are now understood to be looking at smaller properties nearby valued in the region of £6 million.

In December Anthea, 48, sobbed as Grant, 47, revealed their worth had been slashed to a fraction of its £100 million peak after the collapse of his property empire. She admitted personally draining £1,203,940 from Imagine Furnishing in 2007 as it posted losses of £685,259. It went bust in December 2008, owing £1.7million.

Blaming the credit crunch, Anthea claimed at the time: "We are in the same boat as millions of other people."

Our source said: "They may have claimed to be victims of the credit crunch, but they could live quite happily for the rest of their days on the profits from the house sale alone."

Your comments

This article has 14 comments

How not sorry can I feel for both of them as they don't seem to have lost much but, are aiming to gain more from the sale of their house and buy another home for £6Million for only 2 people and Bovey's grown kids visiting from time to time. I have a house worth £200K (ex-council) and I definitely would be on the streets if I lose my income. I don't have the same advantage of chargng for appearances on a show, plugging a product or selling a story on 'how I forgot to shave my armpit'. However, there are pple that are in a worst situation to mine. What's wrong in them looking for a 3 bed house for £500K in Surrey,Sussex or Hampshire area.

By Bissy10.. Posted January 19 2010 at 2:48 AM.

Aww Poor lovies , it must be SOOO hard for them . When one has to down scale to save the pennies , the heli pad is always the first to go or should it be the polo pitch ??
Such dilema who could bear it??

By Susan.. Posted June 21 2009 at 1:17 AM.

I've had a rough 2 years no car.hardly any money..I've been paying my debts left right and centre and now i have a new car...I could not bear the thought of going bankrupt..so I lived on nothing the last couple of years..I'm still in debt up to my eyeballs but at least we are paying back what we owe not trying to dodge it!! They should be lucky they have even that house..we live in a run down private rent..these celebs make me sick!!!

By nic.. Posted June 20 2009 at 10:14 PM.

The difference between 'them' and 'us' is that they can afford the best lawyers and QC's to manage their various bankrupcies, divorces and companies, and they know how to use every bit of outdated and outlandish law to their own advantage, and this escape paying what we lesser mortals end up having to.
My simple advice to anyone in this situation is to get the best legal representation you can possibly afford, even if it means you live off of baked beans for the next year.
It always pays off.

By Philip Yorke.. Posted June 20 2009 at 9:33 PM.

oh my god.i have to say this is wrong i lost our home this year our hotel went under due to slow down .then we had to move out of our 2 bed home.we rent a flat with our two children.and have no money or very little to live on a week.so tell me why they will not be paying back some of the money? as we have to pay back £152.00 out of my husband wage of £900 a mounth.then lets not for get we pay £550 rent a mounth two.so as you can see life is not good for use.its like beaning in hell for my family.i just hope one day they can feel the pain as we do.

By olivia.. Posted June 17 2009 at 1:40 PM.

I would not watch or buy anything that this person decided to sponsor or plug. You owe the money so pay up!

By Steve Tea.. Posted June 14 2009 at 9:02 PM.

Typical of the wealthy, never mind how much debt they are in including bankruptcy they always come up smelling of roses, they are actually 'nothings' just getting away with it just like the politicians and bankers have

By Mair .. Posted June 14 2009 at 2:43 PM.

I detect a certain animosity towards this couple. Celebrities enrich all our lives. The rest of us can handle living on stale crusts and tap water, but the rich and famous feel more pain than the rest of us. Being down to their last several million must feel like the end of their world. They are deserving of our sympathy

By Ed .. Posted June 14 2009 at 1:49 PM.

They haven't sold it yet so havent made any profit at all - so wind your necks in.

By jbrown.. Posted June 14 2009 at 12:18 PM.

I know that house an it isn't worth more than £2m. Clearly the couple are deluded.

By Mike Livingstone.. Posted June 14 2009 at 9:16 AM.

so they make 10 million, and owe 1.7 million, sorry but i would of thought compassion would come into it, a sense of pride and they should pay whats owed. They say they know what its like to go bust and have no money, then why are they putting other people through it when they now have the means to pay them..

and for crying out loud 6 million for a house, get over yoursleves.. i hope they go bust again

KARMA ....... what goes round comes round turner.. you'll get yrs 1 day

By sj.. Posted June 14 2009 at 9:44 AM.

What's wrong with the Laws in this country?They should be changed with NO loopholes -if people have been swindled they should be paid back fully. It's not fair,and these two should be taught a lesson or they'll do it again,and also they are practically telling people what to do to get away with it.

By mrs_spratt.. Posted June 14 2009 at 8:36 AM.

What on earth do they need to spend 6 million quid on a house for? They should have to pay the money back that they owe. Doesn't seem right...

By TRAcey.. Posted June 14 2009 at 6:52 AM.

Well, if things get reeeeeally bad for them, they would always renew their wedding vows, shamelessly plug a new chocolate bar and sell the pics to OK! Magazine

By corri.. Posted June 14 2009 at 1:04 AM.

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