Darius Guppy

Darius Guppy
BornJune 1964 (age 60)
Westminster, London, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Spouse
Patricia Holder
​
​
(m. 1991; sep. 2021)​
Children3
Parents

Darius Guppy (born June 1964)[1] is a British businessman resident in South Africa.[2] He was formerly a close friend of Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In 1993 he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for insurance fraud.

Early life and education

Darius Guppy was born June 1964 in London to an Iranian mother and British father. Guppy's mother was the author and singer Shusha Guppy (1935–2008).[3][4] His grandfather on his mother's side was the philosopher and theologian Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammed Kazem Assar, who held the chair of philosophy at Tehran University.[5]

His father was the writer Nicholas Guppy (1925–2012).[6] On his father's side, he is a descendant of Lechmere Guppy, the naturalist who discovered the eponymous fish, as well as the inventor Sarah Guppy,[7] Thomas Guppy, the engineer and business partner of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the explorer Amelia Guppy, Sir Francis Dashwood and the Plantagenet family.[8]

Guppy was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In his second year, he became a member of the Piers Gaveston Society, as well as the Bullingdon Club.[9] He was the best man at Earl Spencer's wedding to model Victoria Lockwood, his first wife;[10] Lord Spencer was his best man in return.[11] He was a close friend of Boris Johnson, who later became the Mayor of London and British Prime Minister,[12] as well as of Count Gottfried von Bismarck.[13]

Personal life

He married Patricia Holder in 1991.[4] The couple had a daughter and twin sons, and lived in Cape Town, South Africa.[10][4] In 2021, Holder filed for divorce, accusing Guppy of physical and verbal abuse. Guppy referred to the accusations as ranging from "inflammatory to untrue".[14]

Boris Johnson and journalist from News of the World

During a telephone call in 1990, Guppy asked Boris Johnson (then a journalist at The Telegraph) to provide the home address of News of the World journalist Stuart Collier. Collier had been making enquiries into Guppy's background, and in response, Guppy wanted to send someone to physically assault Collier. A tape of the conversation was leaked to the press in June 1995.[15][4][16][10]

Insurance and VAT fraud

In February 1993, Guppy was jailed for staging a faked jewel robbery and claiming £1.8 million from the insurers. Guppy claimed this was intended as retribution against Lloyd's of London, since his father had lost money in Lloyd's financial crisis of the 1990s.[10]

Guppy and a business partner, Benedict Marsh, hired a man to fake a robbery, discharge a firearm and tie them up.[17] They were both convicted of conspiracy involving fraud, theft and false accounting at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Guppy was sentenced to five years in prison.[17][18] Guppy also pleaded guilty in March 1993 to three separate charges, relating to illegal VAT claims on gold bullion later smuggled into India between October 1989 and July 1990.[19][18]

Writing

Guppy has written for The Spectator, the Asia Times, the Independent on Sunday and The Independent,[20] The Sunday Telegraph,[21] and the New Statesman.[22] Guppy has also published poetry.[23][24][25] His autobiography, Roll the Dice, was issued by Blake Publishing in 1996.[26]

Bibliography

  • Guppy, Darius (1996). Roll the Dice. Blake Publishing. ISBN 1-85782-159-9.[27]
  • VAT 1 The Story of VAT Fraud on Gold in the early 1990s BigFoot. Amazon Direct Publishing. 2013. ISBN 978-1536881219.

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Reporter who Boris Johnson conspired to have beaten up demands apology". TheGuardian.com. 14 July 2019.
  3. ^ Bremner, Charles (26 March 2008). "Shusha Guppy". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d "Darius Guppy: 'If we go to war with Iran, I'm in trouble'". The Independent. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  5. ^ Scruton, Roger (24 March 2008). "Obituary: Shusha Guppy". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Nicholas Guppy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 10 June 2012.
  7. ^ "The female engineer behind Bristol's iconic bridge: Mum-of-six handed plans to Brunel because she said women must 'not be boastful'". The Telegraph. London. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. ^ Yseult Bridges (1980). Child of the Tropics. Aquarela Galleries. ISBN 976-8066-05-9.
  9. ^ Richard Alleyne (4 December 2004). "Oxford hellraisers politely trash a pub". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d Jane Flanagan (20 February 2010). "The truth about my friend Boris and my feud with Earl Spencer". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  11. ^ "A man who knew exactly what he was saying". The Irish Times. 8 September 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  12. ^ John-Paul Flintoff (16 March 2008). "Boris Johnson: Maybe it's because he's a ponderer". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008.
  13. ^ "Obituaries » Count Gottfried von Bismarck". The Telegraph. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Cape Town Divorce Involving Boris Johnson Friend Makes UK Headlines". www.sapeople.com. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  15. ^ McSmith, Andy (30 March 2009). "Darius, Boris and a blast from the past". The Independent. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  16. ^ Stanford, Peter (29 March 2013). "Darius Guppy: 'That element of madness was always there'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. ^ a b Arlidge, John (14 February 1993). "Guppy 'going to prison for a very long time' in pounds 1.8m gems fraud". The Independent. London. Retrieved 3 July 2009.
  18. ^ a b "Two jailed over gems firm fraud: Guppy and partner sentenced to five years". The Independent. 26 March 1993. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Guppy spun 'web of deceit' in bullion fraud". The Scotland Herald. 5 March 1993.
  20. ^ Darius Guppy (12 June 2011). "Growth: it ain't happening". The Sunday Independent. London.
  21. ^ Darius Guppy (21 February 2010). "Our world balances on a sea of debt. The Counterfeiter and the Bankster". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  22. ^ Darius Guppy (31 July 2016). "In Praise of Walls". The Spectator.
  23. ^ John Adlam; Darius Guppy, eds. (1984). First Set: Blue Jade. Libanus Press. ISBN 978-0948021008.
  24. ^ John Adlam; Darius Guppy, eds. (1986). Second Set: Nomads. Pendulum Press. ISBN 978-1869800000.
  25. ^ Elizabeth Jennings (15 August 1985). "Oxford Poets then and now". The Spectator. London.
  26. ^ Guppy, Darius (1996). Roll the Dice. Blake Publishing. ISBN 1-85782-159-9.Described in Publishers Weekly, 27 January 1997 vol. 244 no. 4, p. 93
  27. ^ Described in Publishers Weekly, 27 January 1997 v244 n4 p93