Reality TV star ‘threatened to stab an worker within the eye’ over crisis-hit care residence fears
Ampika Pickston is appealing the permanent closure of her company, AP Care Homes Ltd but is said to have made the threat to employee Natalie Canavan should she “say anything to Ofsted”
A reality TV star and Only Fans model threatened to stab an employee in the eye if she raised concerns about her crisis-hit care home for children, a court has heard.
Ampika Pickston is appealing the permanent closure of her company, AP Care Homes Ltd – a home for girls in social care aged 12 to 16 which was bankrolled by her fiancé, the billionaire pornographer and West Ham United owner David Sullivan.
Pickston is alleged to have made the threat against Natalie Canavan should she “say anything to Ofsted, my colleagues at Real Housewives of Cheshire, or the media”, a Care Standards Tribunal was told.
The TV personality is due to give evidence this week.
Ms Canavan earlier told Warrington Magistrates Court in a statement: “Ms Pickston blurted out, looking directly at me, if you say anything to Ofsted, my colleagues at Real Housewives of Cheshire, or the media ‘I will stab you in the eye with a fork’.
“In the moment, I laughed it off, as I didn’t want to appear undermined, however, it made me feel intimidated and threatened. This incident made me see Ampika Pickston as controlling and negative.”
Pickston was permitted by Ofsted to open the ‘luxury’ home, Moss Farm, in Styal, Cheshire, using a £1.2 million loan from adult baron Sullivan, despite neither having any experience in the children’s care sector.
However, since opening in July 2023, the facility has twice been suspended from caring for children by the watchdog, which uncovered a catalogue of safeguarding failures, and has been shut for the past year.
The tribunal also heard how Canavan had been sent a legal letter by Pickston, after the 43-year-old learned staff had been discussing an unspecified “serious allegation” pertaining to her and Mr Sullivan, 76.
While the letter’s contents were not disclosed during the hearing, Canavan said: “Everyone hired to work at AP Care Homes Ltd – including myself – was required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), preventing employees from speaking publicly. This made me feel silenced and feared whistleblowing against AP Care Homes due to any subsequent legal action.”
In response to the allegations made by Canavan – who has 10 years’ childcare experience and says she was headhunted personally for the role by Pickston on the promise of “higher pay than any other residential care home in the UK” – Pickston said: “I believe that Natalie Canavan has an unfounded grudge against me personally and against [AP Care Homes Limited].”
During the hearing, lawyers for AP Care Homes denied that Pickston had ever made any threats of violence to staff.
However, another Ofsted inspector, Emma Thornton, later told the court that Pickston’s comment had been overheard by one of Canavan’s colleagues, Kirsty Austin, who then told Ms Thornton about it.
The latest closure concerned a failure to care for a girl referred to in court as ‘Child A’, who attacked staff, caused major damage to the property, and was hospitalised with police called to assist multiple times, with AP Care Homes Ltd admitting it was unable to keep her safe.
Ofsted inspector Catherine Fargin told the hearing how one child had been speaking to strangers online in their rooms, using a social media app described as “like Tinder for teens”, which Judge Siobhan Goodrich described as “inappropriate”.
She also found staff at Moss Farm were worked so hard by management that they fell asleep on the job. This supported a claim made by Canavan that, during the time Child A had been in the care of AP Care Homes, she had worked for 51 hours straight with no sleep.
Neither of the claims were immediately contested by lawyers for AP Care Homes Ltd.
AP Care Homes Ltd is appealing a permanent closure notice placed on Moss Farm by Ofsted following a previous Care Standards Tribunal last June, which upheld a suspension of care.
The latest ongoing tribunal began in late January, with Canavan – who told the court she had consulted a whistleblower charity about her concerns surrounding the home before approaching Ofsted last Spring – giving evidence on January 30.
However, her testimony can only be reported today following a successful appeal by journalists to be awarded access to the court documents, which included Canavan’s full statement.
In a witness statement, Pickston said she believed her “public profile as a former reality TV personality [and] that my partner is David Sullivan, the owner of West Ham United Football Club” had caused Ofsted to act in a manner that is inconsistent with other care homes and has been disproportionate”.
Lawyers for AP Care Homes Ltd say Ofsted’s cancellation decision has “been taken unlawfully by persons, who have exhibited actual bias against Moss Farm and [Pickston], and/or whose decisions were infected by apparent bias”.
But opening the hearing on January 27, Dominic Howells for Ofsted said that AP Care Homes had not submitted “a single reference to any piece of evidence [or] argument” which would “show that AP Care Homes did not breach the Children’s Home Regulations in the manner which Ofsted [alleges or that] the breaches, [and] the cancelation [notice] would be disproportionate.”
There is no suggestion Sullivan – who is not listed as a director of AP Care Homes Ltd but who has a history of hiding his financial involvement in companies behind complex business arrangements – has any involvement with the firm beyond the provision of financing.
The hearing continues, with a decision about the home’s future made in April.
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