Baroness Michelle Mone has been allowed to keep up to £15,000 a week in rental income from a luxury London mansion despite the property being subject to a court-ordered asset freeze in connection with the £148m PPE-Medpro scandal.
A judge has agreed to amend an existing freezing order allowing rental income from a £25 million listed property in Chester Square, Belgravia, to be withheld while criminal and civil investigations continue. The property can be rented but not sold.
The mansion is owned by a company registered in the Isle of Man, linked to the business empire of Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman. It was bought for £9.25m in December 2020, shortly after PPE Medpro, a Barrowman-led consortium, won a £122m government contract to supply surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic. The clothes were later declared unusable.
Court documents seen by The Times show the verdict was handed down during a closed hearing at Southwark Crown Court, where Judge Tony Baumgartner said the rental income from the property “is not restricted and there is no restriction on the use of that income”.
The Belgravia property underwent extensive renovations, including a cinema room, spa facilities and a basement. It was previously marketed with an asking price of £25 million.
The amended order is part of a wider £75m asset freeze imposed in 2023 while the National Crime Agency investigates the PPE-Medpro deal. PPE Medpro was ordered to repay £148m to the Department of Health and Social Care after losing a Supreme Court case last year, but went into administration the day before the ruling.
In separate rulings, Mone and Barrowman were also allowed to rent out several other UK properties held through offshore companies, including assets in Glasgow and the Isle of Man. The income from these properties is not limited, although the proceeds from approved sales must be kept under legal supervision.
Other assets affected by the freeze include bank accounts at Coutts, C Hoare & Co and Goldman Sachs, as well as a 39 meter superyacht, Lady M. The order does not extend to a £41 million villa in St Barts or a reported $12.5 million property in Miami.
Barrowman reportedly received at least £65 million from PPE Medpro, including £29 million transferred to a trust for the benefit of Mone and her children.
Legal experts have previously warned that the government’s ability to recover funds depends on liquidators pursuing directors and beneficial owners, a process that could take years and involve significant costs.
