- Donna Ida Thornton was locked in a bitter row with her builder Keith Elliott
When she appeared in the glossy property section of a national newspaper in her £1.2million Jacobean mansion, self-styled ‘jean queen’ Donna Ida Thornton appeared to have it all.
The Australian fashion tycoon – whose designer trousers are adored by celebrities including Amanda Holden and Jodie Kidd – told how her denim empire had allowed her to become lady of the manor.
But while she gushed about restoring the 16-bedroom, Grade II-listed Langdon Court into a boutique hotel, this was no English country idyll.
For the millionairess, 50, was locked in a bitter row with her builder Keith Elliott, which led to police being called and vicious insults made online.
Now Ms Thornton must pay the local contractor £236,000 after an adjudicator found in his favour in January.
But last week Mr Elliott took her to the High Court, claiming he has yet to receive a single penny.
A counter claim by Ms Thornton for a similar sum was thrown out but she has served the builder with a ban and bar letter to prevent him setting foot on her estate in south Devon.
The feud started when Ms Thornton and her husband, restaurateur Robert Walton, 67, sacked Mr Elliott in December 2022 in a fallout over his pricing.
Relations deteriorated, with the builder posting frequently online about his treatment and vowing retribution in the courts.
Just last month he boasted of his win: ‘Can’t Pay? We Take it Away!!! I guess we OWN a hotel now…’
On her part, Ms Thornton claimed she was subjected to vile abuse with malicious lies spread about her which are too vulgar to publish.
When a window at Langdon Court was broken last year, she called the police fearing Mr Elliott had shot through it with an air rifle.
She had no evidence and no action was taken. None of this, however, was mentioned in The Times last March.
Under the headline ‘How Donna Ida went from jean queen to lady of the manor’, it told how Ms Thornton and her British husband, whom she refers to as ‘Bobby Dazzler’, were restoring the estate to its former glory.
After their 2021 purchase, they packed it with their five chihuahuas, guinea fowl, rescue geese and ducks with llamas, honey bees and fainting goats to follow.
Ms Thornton said they started with a ‘rip out’ phase in February 2022 where 30 workers repaired collapsing floors, water ingress and general depredation.
She suggested they ticked through jobs, exclaiming: ‘If there was a floor that was caving in, they just threw up another wall.’
Period property experts took over in July with electricians, plumbers, carpenters and interior designers as 10,000sq ft of carpet was rolled out along with 12 miles of electrical cable while 4,000sq ft of marble was installed.
The couple’s private room has a Christobelle bed and a cast-iron bath. For their chihuahuas, there are sleeping quarters, a kitchenette and five panelled stalls where the dogs can eat separately.
The hotel kitchen has a super-sized Bertazzoni cooker and the house has a sun room with a glass roof and wall-to-wall vegetation.
Despite the feud with Mr Elliott, Langdon Court is now a high-end hotel where the most expensive suite is £750 per night.
Previously two of Ms Thornton’s businesses folded owing a total of nearly £3.5million to creditors.
Mr Elliott, 42, of Hunsdon, Devon, told the Mail: ‘It has been horrendous. It has taken a toll. I just want the money back.’
Ms Thornton declined to comment on the case.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
