As the son of one of the UK’s respected chefs, some would have hoped that Marco Pierre White Jnr may have followed in his famous father’s footsteps.
But now, it seems the reality star has done little that his father could be proud of, as he once against faces jail for a string of burglaries.
The troubled son of Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White has admitted to a number of burglaries in a west London crime spree, including stealing £1,500 of Jellycat toys.
Marco Jr, 30, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date, with the incident only the latest in a long list of confrontations with the law for him.
The son of the youngest ever cook to attain the coveted three Michelin stars, Marco Jr has secured his own space in the headlines thanks to his wildly rebellious antics.
The ex-reality TV star has struggled with drug addiction, with his father reportedly paying out over £1million over the years for multiple rehab stints.
Marco Pierre White Jr has added yet another brush with the law to his downfall, proving that despite being the son of a Michelin star chef, he’s shirked much of his affluent upbringing
The troubled son of Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White (pictured in October) has admitted to a number of burglaries, including stealing £1,500 of Jellycat toys
Marco and his older brother Luciano and younger sister Mirabelle grew up in London, the son of Marco Snr, who is credited as being a major influence on other leading British chefs, and his third wife Mati Conejero.
Speaking to Daily Mail in 2016, Mati, who is now estranged from her son, recalled how Marco, who she calls Mini, has always seemed to struggle in the shadow of his famous father.
‘Mini never had to answer for his actions. He was a beautiful boy who grew into a beautiful young man, but his life hasn’t been easy growing up in the shadow of somebody like Marco,’ Mati said at the time.
Mati said she blamed her ex husband and his fame and fortune for Marco Jnr’s ‘sense of entitlement’, explaining: ‘Marco was always too busy working to do much with them. Yet he got irritated with me if they then got bored and started playing up.’
‘Everything revolved around the restaurants. A simple, planned trip to the park would end up not happening because first we would go to meet Marco at his restaurant Frankie’s in Knightsbridge.
‘I suppose it’s not surprising Mini misbehaved so badly,’ she continued. ‘It set a pattern which continues to this day. In a way, it’s not really his fault that he doesn’t know how to behave properly and knows no social boundaries.’
‘He has grown up with a sense of entitlement. He is the son of somebody famous and therefore he is well-known and he is rich and can do what he likes.’
This unruly childhood only unravelled further when the family were forced to visit social services in Notting Hill when Marco Jr was a teenager.
Marco battled drug addiction, with his father even paying over £1 million for him to go to rehab, and despite getting clean in 2023, his brushes with the law have continued
Marco and his older brother Luciano and younger sister Mirabelle grew up in London, the son of Marco Snr and his third wife Mati Conejero
‘Marco [Snr] sat there and everybody agreed we could tailor our lives and his career to fit in with the boy’s requirements. Even social services got sucked in by his charisma,’ Mati claimed.
‘This was about the time when we started divorce proceedings, when Marco did the crazy thing of sending Mini off to Thailand with a family friend. That is where he had his first tattoo done.
Marco Jr, who hit out his mother’s tell-all interview at the time, has been open about his childhood struggles, recalling in an emotional conversation in the Big Brother house how he was targeted at school because of his dad’s celebrity status.
‘It’s horrible, I never had a normal life, at eight-years old I was being bullied cos I was rich,’ he told his housemates.
Despite his early struggles, Marco Jnr has to this day retained a close relationship with his father.
But he has admitted to clashes with the chef after spending £250,000 of his father’s money on ‘prostitutes, cocaine and alcohol‘ and claiming he had only agreed to take part in Big Brother to pay off debts.
After leaving school Marco dabbled in art and modelling but it was being the son of the award winning chef, the label he was desperate to be rid of as a child, that landed him is spot in the Big Brother house in 2016 at the age of 21.
The show did little to boost his reputation though. Just days into the series, in some of the most shockingly explicit sexual scenes ever to be broadcast live on mainstream television, Marco Jnr was seen kissing and stripping off with housemate Laura Carter, taking a naked shower with her, before sucking her breast.
The scenes sparked more than 600 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom, and days later Marco was the first celeb to be booted off the show.
He exited the house on day 11 to a chorus of boos and a split from his fiancée Kim Melville-Smith, following a ‘misunderstanding’ about the definition of what a ‘hall pass’ meant while he was on the reality show.
Marco’s struggles with crime resumed four days after his reality show exit when he appeared in a magistrate’s court to answer a drug driving charge when he was stopped in a BMW X5 and found to have 200mcg of cocaine in his system.
His multiple offences since have included shoplifting, possessing a knife, and possessing drugs.
In 2016, he was spared jail for spending £2,500 on his ex-girlfriend’s bank card.
He bought goods that were traded to buy drugs before he was finally arrested in Bristol.
Previous offences also include one count of using threatening abusive language in 2011, when he was a teenager, and being drunk in charge of a car in 2016.
In 2019, he racially abused a police officer while he was ‘drunk as a skunk’ at the Cabin Bar pub in Paddington Station, west London.
In January 2019, he was convicted and fined after calling police officers ‘f*****s’ and ‘n******s’ while they tried to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly in a train station.
Then in June 2019, he was ordered to pay more than £1,000 for running out on a £27 restaurant bill after his debit card was declined.
The following month, it was reported he had to be dragged ‘kicking and screaming’ to a police station after being arrested for allegedly smashing windows during a row with his father in Wiltshire.
In July 2019, he appeared in court accused of making off from a cafe without paying the bill after his payment card was declined, loudly proclaiming who his father was.
His longest sentence was handed down in 2022, when aged 27, he pleaded guilty to 14 offences including carrying a knife and racial abuse, getting 18 months in prison.
After being released, Marco vowed never to touch drugs again after spending more than £1million on rehab.
After leaving school Marco dabbled in art and modelling but it was being the son of the award winning chef, that landed him is spot in the Big Brother house in 2016 at the age of 21
In some of the most shockingly explicit sexual scenes ever to be broadcast live on mainstream television, Marco Jnr was seen kissing and stripping off with housemate Laura Carter
Despite his early struggles, and attempts to distance himself from his dad’s celebrity status, Marco Jnr has to this day retained a close relationship with his father
In December, Marco was handed a suspended sentence for a spate of burglaries, and he’s set to appear in court at a later date after pleading guilty to multiple counts of burglary
He also revealed he had converted to Islam to help him ‘stay clean’ and reform after years of drug abuse which he has said began at the age of just 13.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail in 2023, he said: ‘I have been in rehab 17 times and being in prison has made me realise that enough is enough.
‘I have been in rehab all over America and in the UK and the only thing that has cured me is being banged up in a cell for 23 hours a day.
‘I have realised how lucky I am and have been. I have seen all walks of life in prison and some people don’t have a chance in life. I have had every opportunity and I have thrown them all away.
‘I could have done anything I wanted to, but instead I did heroin and ended up in prison. I have been an idiot.’
He added that he was being supported by his father and he had big plans to follow in his footsteps and become a chef.
The recovering drug addict also had the motivation of his young daughter Arabella Rose and he said back in the 2013 interview that missing a year of her life while in prison had also made him determined never to fall into drug use again.
Sadly hopes that Marco was on the straight and narrow weren’t to last, as in December, he was handed a suspended sentence for a spate of burglaries.
He avoided jail after being sentenced to a suspended 30-week prison sentence for a spate of burglaries in his hometown.
He only recently moved to Weston-super-Mare with his latest offence coming just over two months after he was handed eight weeks in jail for a spree of thefts in Chippenham and Bath.
Just eight months later, Marco’s brushes with the law have only continued, as it was revealed by Daily Mail on Wednesday he has plead guilty to a number of burglaries.
Marco raided an antiques shop on June 19 this year in Westminster, central London.
Prosecutor Ravinder Johal said White wrecked four mounted crystals and the entrance door to the shop.
The ex-Celebrity Big Brother star pleaded guilty to burglary and criminal damage, but said he disputes the cost of the damage.
On June 12, he burgled an Italian deli store in Kensington called La Piccola, stealing a laptop, tablet, iPod, and a till tray.
Just three days later, he smashed his way into a house in Kensington and Chelsea, and stole two natural rock crystal formations, causing £7,775 worth of damage to the front door.
A month later, on July 21, he broke into another store on Barnes High Street, south-west London, stealing £1,500 of Jellycat toys.
Marco Jr appeared at Isleworth Crown Court via video link from HMP Wandsworth, wearing a grey prison tracksuit.
Marco Jr, of no fixed address, admitted four counts of burglary and one count of criminal damage.
He previously pleaded guilty to the three counts of burglary on June 15, June 12, and July 21, at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court, and those pleas were entered again today.
He denied, however, one count of robbery, and is accused of stealing 26 bottles of personal hygiene products from a beauty store in Kensington and Chelsea on May 25 this year, to a value of £1,331.
Graeme Logan, defending, said: ‘Marco disputes the £43,000 figure relating to criminal damage. The figure appears to be an amalgamation for property stolen and damage to the property.
‘That figure is disputed. I ask for seven days to submit that plea.
‘With the allegation of robbery on May 25, which Mr White denies, an alternative plea of theft will be offered.’
Judge Edward Connell said: ‘There will be a hearing for that robbery charge at Isleworth Crown Court on September 2 this year. If the Crown does not accept it, a trial will be set for March 16 next year.’
Judge Connell told White: ‘I am going to adjourn your case for two weeks. You have pled guilty to serious offences both in the magistrates’ court and today, and at some point you will have to be sentenced for that.’
Marco Jr was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .