Strange case of the body in Cherie's cellar

The Telegraph
May. 28, 2006

Ever since they bought into the multi-million pound property market, the Prime Minister and his wife could be forgiven for thinking themselves cursed.

The value of their £3.65 million "retirement home" in Connaught Square, London, has fallen considerably; and, struggling to find a tenant, they had to halve the £4,000-a-week rent.

Any feelings that they are the playthings of a cruel fate will not be helped by the latest revelation - a body in the basement.

It has emerged that an elderly tramp was once found dead in the cellar of the five-storey townhouse, close to Marble Arch.

The disclosure comes from Lord St John of Fawsley, the former Conservative minister, who viewed the property himself when looking for a home in London.

"The estate agent hadn't been keen to show me the cellar to the house that the Blairs now own but I said I wanted to see it. He took me down the stairs. I saw the body immediately, lying on the floor," Lord St John said this weekend.

"The agent was in a state of shock and had to sit down. I went to investigate and established that the man was dead. I contacted the police, who removed the body. I was absolutely clear with them that the man should be given a proper burial. They assured me that he would be."

At the time of the discovery, Lord St John was the MP for Chelmsford and a member of Margaret Thatcher's shadow cabinet.

The Blairs bought the house for £3.65 million from an art dealer at the peak of the property boom in 2004.

But one next door went on sale this year for £3.45 million.

Unable to find tenants, the Blairs, who took out a £3,467,500 joint mortgage to buy the home, were later forced to reduce the weekly rent from £4,000 to £2,000

The house was eventually occupied last year by Michael Caton-Jones, the Labour-supporting film director, who recently renewed the agreement for another year.

Mrs Blair, a devotee of spiritualism and alternative medicines, may be particularly upset by Lord St John's revelation.

But although the corpse was scarcely a selling point, it was not the reason Lord St John decided against buying the property.

"The house seemed to me too big and the square was large and impersonal. I also had some doubts about the area," he said.