A businessman “funded” his wife’s affair with a celebrity DJ by paying for trips to London for tens of thousands of pounds worth of plastic surgery.
Company director Michael Ramsay, 59, said he paid £70,000 for spouse Gemma, 34, to have two breast augmentations and four operations on her nose.
But he claimed he knew Mrs Ramsay, former wife of “The Office” star Patrick Baladi, became involved with 56-year-old millionaire Mark Vanderpump – brother of reality TV star Lisa – as she travelled back and forward to London for the cosmetic procedures.
Mr Ramsay, from Elgin, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday charged with behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in connection with a row the couple had at Inverness Airport after one of Mrs Ramsay’s trips south.
He was found not guilty after a trial where both gave evidence – but a joint minute was read out in court that gave remarkable details of the background to the disagreement that ended in a courtroom.
It emerged that Mr Ramsay told police producer and DJ Mark Vanderpump had offered to resurrect his wife’s career as a model, and the pair embarked on an affair.
But on the fateful trip, when Mrs Ramsay asked her estranged husband for more money for Botox injections and treatment to her lips, he refused.
She flew back north and Sheriff Charlotte Coutts heard that this sparked an angry exchange between the couple in his Porsche.
The court heard how, on the night of October 12, Mr Ramsay suggested Mr Vanderpump did not pay for anything – and his wife then compared the two men’s sexual prowess.
Mrs Ramsay claimed her husband raised his fist, told her to get out of his car and then threatened to kill her.
She told the court: “He pressed the accelerator and came up very fast close behind a car in front, saying he was going to smash into it.
“Then he braked hard. He was very, very angry and I was scared. He stopped at Nairn Police Station and told me to go inside and report it. I didn’t because I was very tired.”
Mr Ramsay, of Ardgilzean, said he did not utter any threats or form a fist but simply pointed to the car door when he stopped at the roadside.
He agreed he had accelerated after resuming their journey but denied it was at excessive speed.
His legal counsel, Matt Jackson argued that Mr Ramsay had done nothing criminal and his behaviour was “perfectly reasonable in the circumstances.
“This was nothing more than the sad breakdown of a marriage played out in court.”
Sheriff Coutts found Mr Ramsay not guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
The court heard Mr Ramsay went voluntarily to the police and told officers how the argument had started: “I need to wind the clock back nine weeks or so – perhaps three months.
“Gemma has been groomed by Mark Vanderpump to be a top model again.
“They were having an affair and spent 23 nights in Chigwell together. I had spent £70,000 on two boob jobs and four rhinoplasties for her.
“Gemma had been drinking heavily and suffering from depression. I allowed the relationship to happen because it seemed to be a tonic for her. She was happy about that but I wasn’t.”
He added he could have stopped “funding her to get down there”, but said he would rather have “an adulterous wife” than to separate.
He added: “She had been in London and Vanderpump picked her up. She visited her surgeon and asked me to pay for Botox and treatment to her lips. I refused.”
He added that he hoped he could save his marriage and their relationship would continue.
Neither would comment after the case. Mr Vanderpump did not respond to online requests for comment.
