Ex-lawyer dubbed ‘the female Basil Fawlty’ after she attacked staff while working as a hotelier on the English Riviera is kicked out of the legal profession
- Shirley Bothroyd, 64, was disbarred on Monday following a litany of charges
- Read more: ‘Female Basil Fawlty drunkenly threw a plant pot at a barman’
A barrister who worked with Tony Blair and his wife Cherie can no longer practice as a lawyer after attacking staff in her seaside hotel.
Dubbed ‘the female Basil Fawlty’, Shirley Bothroyd, 64, attacked staff at the 18-bedroom Bay hotel in Teignmouth, Devon, which she bought for £1.5million in 2013.
The five foot tall lawyer was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison and ordered to pay her victims £300 in October 2017.
And now she will be unable to return to her previous profession after she refused to cooperate with the Bar Standards Board.
The English Riviera hotelier, who has been compared to John Cleese’s iconic Fawlty Towers character due to the way she treats guests, was also fined £2,128 in costs.
Dubbed ‘the female Basil Fawlty’, Shirley Bothroyd, 64, attacked staff at the 18-bedroom Bay hotel in Teignmouth, Devon, which she bought for £1.5million in 2013
Bothroyd was detained by police after she was seen hurling rocks and glass from a hotel window in 2017
Bothroyd, of Paignton, did not attend a hearing of the Bar Tribunal & Adjudication Service in central London and wrote a letter saying she wishes to resign from the profession in any event.
Rachael Gourley, for the Bar Standards Board (BSB), said: ‘There has been a very considerable period where Ms Bothroyd hasn’t engaged with the BSB and these proceedings.’
She was accused of behaving in a way likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in a barrister; failing to report her conviction to the BSB and failing to co-operate with the regulator.
The charges were found proved and Bothroyd was disbarred on Monday for ‘repeated offences of violence and threats of harm that led to terms of imprisonment or a hospital order.’
Bothroyd was also ordered to pay £2,128 to the BSB in costs.
The numerous charges levelled at Bothroyd over the years include grabbing her chef Pauline Cave from behind by her hair, pulling her to the floor and repeatedly slapping her face in June 2017.
She also threw wine towards receptionist Hannah Glover, then her glass which missed her and smashed on the floor.
The hotelier then threw a pint glass containing Guinness, red wine and cranberry juice over a police officer.
Bothroyd had blamed her foul-mouthed rages at the hotel on her drinks being spiked.
She admitted assaulting Ms Cave and using abusive and threatening behaviour towards Ms Glover at Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court.
The 18-bed hotel in Teignmouth Devon, which Shirley Bothroyd bought for £1.5million in 2013 after practising as a barrister
Bothroyd had blamed her foul-mouthed rages at the hotel on her drinks being spiked (at Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court)
The Bay Hotel was closed by emergency services in July 2017 following several incidents (Bothroyd pictured outside the hotel)
Bothroyd also attacked hotel manager Christian Holland, Stephen Fenton and bar worker Jay French.
The five foot tall lawyer was jailed for a total of 22 weeks and ordered to pay her victims a total of £300 in compensation in October 2017.
Further charges against her involving dumping rotten food waste and smashed bottles outside her hotel were dropped.
Bothroyd then faced Exeter Crown Court in 2018 after she threatened to torch a neighbour’s home in a bizarre argument about her pet lizard.
She became enraged when a hotel employee broke into her flat and removed the lizard which had been left alone while Bothroyd was away for three weeks.
Bothroyd was arrested after she was seen wearing a nightdress, drunk and shouting about her pet.
She was sentenced to a hospital order in September 2018.
The Bay Hotel was closed by emergency services in July 2017 following several incidents, including the collapse of three ceilings and a fire in the penthouse suite.
Bothroyd had been dubbed the female Basil Fawlty on review websites because of her rude and drunken behaviour towards guests.
John Cleese plays the rude hotelier Basil Fawlty running Fawlty Towers in Torquay with his bossy wife Sybul, long suffering chambermaid Polly and hapless Spanish waiter Manuel.
Source: Read Full Article
