Stephen Mulhern apologises to tenants over ‘squalor’ at his rental home
Presenter Stephen Mulhern says he is “absolutely mortified” to learn that tenants in a bungalow he owns in Leicester have been living in damp and mouldy conditions.
The 47-year-old star owns a property firm called JFDI Productions, which rents out several houses and is worth over £4m according to company filings.
One of the tenants shared images of a bungalow he rents in Leicester, showing mould on walls and ceilings throughout the home, with the Big Issue.
Speaking to the street paper, the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said he felt “bitter and alienated” after living with damp and mould in the property for two years.
He said he and his flatmate began noticing a damp problem during an annual inspection with the management agent, Connells, a couple of years ago.
The pair – who were both key workers during COVID – said they pay £775 for the house per month.
Despite saying they complained to the management agency about the issue multiple times since then, they say no action has been taken, with the damp affecting rooms throughout the house.
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They said the agent had advised they “ventilate the properly and keep the house warm during the winter,” but the situation had continued to worsen.
“We remained patient, sending polite emails at first. In later conversations, my remarks became a bit sharper,” he said.
Although they said high humidity readings in the house had eventually persuaded the management agency to install “a positive input ventilation system”, they said that had only temporarily improved conditions.
The tenant described Mulhern as “a millionaire, profiting off our misery”.
Mulhern co-hosts Dancing On Ice with Holly Willoughby. Pic: Matt Frost/ITV/Shutterstock
‘Absolutely mortified’ about the ‘unacceptable’ situation
Responding to news of the state of the home, a representative for Mulhern told Sky News the presenter was “absolutely mortified to learn about this situation and the awful experience the tenant has faced which is clearly unacceptable”.
They said he had not been made aware of any of the issues and had relied entirely on the company that manage the property on his behalf.
They said he has now “personally requested for a team of damp specialists to visit the property to make sure that the problems with the ventilation and mould are resolved as a matter of urgency”.
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Additionally, they confirmed the tenant had been contacted “to express sincere apologies for the distress and frustration the management of this matter has caused”.
They said the situation “falls way below the standards Stephen expects and he is doing everything possible to remedy this ASAP, and this process is already under way”.
A representative for Connells told Sky News: “As agents we work on behalf of the landlord and we continue to work with the landlord’s representative to address the issues raised’.”
Mulhern, who was announced as co-presenter of Dancing On Ice last year replacing Philip Schofield, will front the new series of the show alongside Holly Willoughby when it kicks off in January.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
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