‘Jean queen’ firm facing £236,000 bill after row over mansion restoration

Donna Ida Thornton is embroiled in a feud with a Plymouth-based contractor who claims he has not been paid a penny for work on a £1.2m property

A company co-owned by an Australian fashion tycoon known as the “jean queen” is facing a £236,000 bill following a row with a builder over the restoration of her 19-bedroom Jacobean mansion.

Donna Ida Thornton, 50, whose denim has been worn by Dame Kelly Holmes, the Olympian, and the model Jodie Kidd, is embroiled in a feud with Keith Elliott, a Plymouth-based contractor who claims he has not been paid a penny for work on the £1.2 million property.

Ms Thornton bought the Grade II listed Langdon Court in south Devon with her husband Robert Walton, a 67-year-old restaurateur in 2021 and hired Mr Elliott that April to help turn the property into a boutique hotel.

However, Ms Thornton and Mr Elliott parted ways in December 2022, two-thirds of the way into the project, following an “amicable” disagreement about costs.

Their relationship then deteriorated, with Mr Elliott going on to complain about his treatment on social media. He claimed his company, Keith Elliott Construction (KEC), had shouldered the full cost of the renovations but had not been paid for the work.

Langdon Court, a Jacobean mansion, has 19 bedrooms

In November last year, Mr Elliott applied to an adjudicator at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to decide who was responsible for the costs.

In January, the adjudicator ruled in Mr Elliott’s favour, saying that Langdon Court Ltd, a private company owned by Ms Thornton and her husband, was liable to pay accumulated costs of £236,000.

Documents seen by The Telegraph show that Langdon Court Ltd was instructed to pay 100 per cent of the bill claimed by KEC, as well as the adjudicator’s fee. Counter-claims by Langdon Court Ltd for a similar sum, which argued that some of the works were defective, were thrown out.

Donna Ida Thornton is known as the ‘jean queen’

KEC was also awarded interest on money owed. Both KEC and Langdon Court Ltd agreed that their contract had been ended by mutual consent.

Mr Elliott posted a photo of “a bar and ban” letter on Facebook, reportedly issued by Ms Thornton, prohibiting him from setting foot on the estate.

He is now taking legal action in the High Court against Langdon Court Ltd, claiming he has not received any funds following the adjudication.

Builder Keith Elliott has vowed to continue the legal battle

Mr Elliott wrote in a Facebook post: “What they have tried to do to us at KEC has been horrendous. I believe that they tried to take us out of business, either way, what they have done could have, and it showed complete disregard to myself, my family, our staff, their families and also our supply chain.

“They simply didn’t care about if there was a knock on affect (sic) of their non-payment, thankfully in that case, we have limited any affect (sic) to just KEC & myself. We protected every other party, at great cost.

“They thought that they could bully us into submission. Yet not only did we stand up to them, at great cost and huge losses, but we won hands down, in fact we destroyed them.

“Now we will see this through, continuing to follow the elongated legal process despite all its failings.”

A representative for Ms Thornton declined to comment when approached by The Telegraph.

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