Duke of Marlborough faces repossession of £132,000 Porsche Cayenne after failing to keep up payments
Vehicle was 'wrongly kept', says judge
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, the 12th Duke of Marlborough, the scion of one of the UK’s wealthiest and best-known aristocratic families, has been ordered to hand back the keys to his Porsche Cayenne SUV having failed to keep up payments on a loan.
The duke, who is said to be worth around £188m, and whose family seat is at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, was taken to court by Porsche Financial Services (an arm of Volkswagen Financial Services UK) for refusing or failing to pay the outstanding £64,472.70 balance on the Cayenne E-hybrid Turbo S model he bought in July 2018.
Though Spencer-Churchill did not appear in person, the court in Oxford heard that the duke had paid £67,721.64 towards the Cayenne’s £132,000 value up front (the model now retails for £134,100), but that a notice had been issued last September informing him that he had defaulted on subsequent payments and that the vehicle could be repossessed if he did not rectify the situation.
The agreement between the defendant and Porsche was effectively terminated last November and, according to the company’s Georgina Muschamp, solicitors for Porsche Financial Services wrote to the duke in February demanding that he return the SUV, something that he failed to do.
At the county court hearing, Judge Richard Lamb ruled that the duke had “wrongly kept” the car and that Porsche Financial Services was entitled to recover the vehicle.
The judge also ordered the duke to pay £602 in costs by September 13.
This isn’t the first occasion on which Spencer-Churchill, formerly the Marquess of Blandford, often going by the name Jamie Blandford, has been in trouble in the courts on motoring matters.
Dangerous driving
In 2007, he was jailed for six months on charges of dangerous driving, careless driving and causing criminal damage. In one of the incidents, he was filmed by the police weaving in and out of traffic in his Range Rover at speeds of up to 95mph.
On another occasion in 2006, following a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre Blandford slammed on his brakes after motorist Graeme Kennedy beeped his horn. Kennedy swerved to avoid a collision but the marquess mounted a grass verge to overtake and force Kennedy to stop. Blandford got out of his own car and, shouting and swearing, approached Kennedy who attempted to drive away. Blandford kicked the side of his door as he did so.
In addition to a six-month prison sentence, the judge at the time ordered Blandford to pay £2,577 in costs, disqualified him for driving for three and a half years and mandated that he pass an extended driving test when his disqualification ended.
In 2013, Blandford was arrested following an incident in which he is alleged to have racially abused a Sikh taxi driver in London.
Spencer-Churchill’s history with drug addiction is well-publicised and he was once described by his father, the 11th Duke of Marlborough as the “black sheep” of the family.
Although following some of his early brushes with the law and the emergence of his addiction issues his father attempted to disinherit him, Charles James Spencer-Churchill became the 12th Duke of Marlborough in 2014 following the death of his father and a significant turnaround in their relationship in the 11th duke’s later life.
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