There was a time, it was said, when no society party was complete without the presence of Tim Jefferies – the dashing Mayfair gallery owner who famously romanced a string of the world’s most glamorous women.
Known for his old-school charm and matinee-idol looks, Jefferies first came to public attention as the Green Shield Stamps heir who married Koo Stark – the American actress who had previously dated Prince Andrew for 18 months.
After they split, Britain’s ‘consummate man about town’, went on to win the hearts of supermodels Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer and Sophie Dahl as well as pop star Kylie Minogue.
Jefferies, 63, was the envy of many as his escapades and life of glamorous gatherings regularly featured in gossip columns and glossy society magazines.
But it would appear the party may be finally over for the man who seemed to have it all after the taxman launched a legal battle over mounting debts.
Jefferies’ troubles could leave his world-famous Hamiltons Gallery facing an uncertain future.
The gallery, which was founded in 1977, specialises in works of the ‘modern masters’ of photography and boasts A-list celebrities including Sir Elton John, Tom Cruise, Mariah Carey and Pierce Brosnan among the clientele who have attended glittering events there.
The art dealer’s troubles began after HM Revenue & Customs filed a bankruptcy application against Jefferies at his home in west London last December.
Tim Jefferies, the dashing Mayfair gallery owner, is facing alegal battle over mounting debts (seen at the 2000 Golden Globe party withClaudia Schiffer)
Jefferies and his legal team have since faced a series of hearings at London’s High Court, the latest of which took place earlier this month.
HMRC insists it takes the ‘serious step’ of launching bankruptcy petitions as ‘a last resort’ after exhausting all other options of collecting unpaid tax.
Company records reveal one business connected to the gallery – Hamilton’s Fine Art – was worth £270,468 in 2020. Its latest accounts show the company, now dormant, has assets of just £120.
Accounts for another firm, Hamiltons Galleries, showed £565,000 had been wiped from the value of the company with reserves slumping from £745,349 to £179,866.
While the company had total assets of almost £5.8 million, including £4.34 million in stock, creditors were owed almost £5.5 million.
Although single photographs can sell for up to £600,000, like many businesses, the gallery, whose lease expires next year, was hit hard by Covid lockdown and a government-backed loan of £550,000 is still being repaid.
The crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for Jefferies who teamed up last year with renowned chef Larry Jayasekara to launch a new exclusive restaurant – The Cocochine – set over four floors tucked away off nearby Berkeley Square.
The pair set up a business together in February 2022 but Jefferies resigned as a director last March and was replaced by three wealthy financiers.
Pictured:Malin Jefferies, Tim Jefferies and Elle Macpherson at a private dinner at The River Cafe, London, 2016
Tim was previously linked to Australian modelElle Macpherson (seen together at a London party in 1993)
Pictured:Kylie Minogue, Andre Balazs and Tim Jeffries at the opening of Maison Assouline in London, 2014
Jefferies’ financial trials mark the latest chapter of the privileged but sometimes chaotic life of the former public schoolboy who grew up in an unconventional home.
His mother Hilary, 82, is the daughter of Green Shield Stamps and Argos founder Richard Tompkins.
The tycoon, who started life in the printing business, is said to have disapproved when she met artist Richard Jefferies.
When she fell pregnant, he is said to have offered Richard £10,000 to pay for the abortion and get out of her life.
But Tim was born in November 1961 and the couple went on to marry and had a daughter, Nicola, two years later.
The marriage, however, didn’t last and Richard walked out on the family when Jefferies was aged seven.
Jefferies showed little promise as a youngster, managing only two O-levels before landing his first job – packing shelves in the stock room of a hi-fi shop in East Grinstead, East Sussex.
His life changed and he was catapulted out of a life of obscurity after a £500,000 bequest from his grandfather on his 21st birthday.
Jefferies wedKoo Stark (pictured in 2021), the American actress who had previously dated Prince Andrew for 18 months
Jefferies bought a Ferrari with the fortune – which was said to be enough to buy 10 London houses at the time – and headed off into the bright lights of London.
It was shortly afterwards that he met Stark – who at 28 was seven years his senior – at a photo shoot.
Jefferies was reportedly disinherited by his grandfather while his mother also disapproved saying: ‘If Koo wasn’t acceptable for Prince Andrew, I don’t see why she should be good enough for my boy.’
Stark’s father Wilbur was also against the union calling Jefferies ‘a hell of a jerk trying to be something he wasn’t.’
Within three months the pair were married but it lasted barely a year.
Jefferies’ life is said to have become ‘a succession of first nights and summers spent lounging on yachts on the French Riviera’.
He was also linked to other leading international models including American Denice Lewis, Ingrid Seynhaeve from Belgium and Spain’s Ines Sastre along with another pop star Lisa B.
Jefferies said at the time: ‘I adore luxury and travel.
Pictured:Tim Jeffries and his former wife, Swedish model Malin Johansson, who is 15 years his junior in Paris, 2007
‘For goodness sake, I’m a normal, healthy, red-blooded man attracted to beauty, and not just in women, whom I adore. I think I’m a great aesthete. I love beauty in all forms. In clothing, cars, houses and art.’
Jefferies – who boasted of having a wardrobe of 120 Savile Row suits – is said to have met Schiffer, then the world’s highest paid model, in 1999 aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean owned by the Italian designer Valentino.
It was claimed Jefferies proposed to Schiffer on the Caribbean island of St Bart’s but it was not long before the supermodel, now married to British filmmaker Sir Matthew Vaughn, brought the engagement to an abrupt end announcing: ‘The relationship had simply run its course.’
At last it appeared Jefferies had found true love after he met Swedish model Malin Johansson, who is 15 years his junior, on a blind date in 2006.
The couple married in a lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire two years later.
Their guests included Simon and Yasmin Le Bon, Elizabeth Hurley, Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon who was accompanied by her then partner Hollywood star Christian Slater, Jemima Khan and Cindy Crawford.
Three of Jefferies’ exes including Macpherson were also among the guests.
The couple settled into a life of married bliss at their £4.5 million home in Holland Park and had two children – daughter Coco, 16, and son Rex, 13.
After finally settling down Jefferies said in 2013: ‘I lived a life back then that most single thirty-something men dream of and it was terrific fun.
‘But I have entered a new phase, I am embracing family life; I have two adorable children and it’s utterly blissful, I couldn’t be any happier.’
Jefferies insisted he had never been ‘a playboy’ saying: ‘It makes me cringe and it’s a complete misnomer.
‘I’m not a playboy: I can’t fly a plane, I don’t own a string of polo ponies, I’ve always worked for a living, yet my private life always overshadowed my professional one. I hope that’s not the case any more.’
He added of his new life: ‘I would have settled down sooner but I couldn’t find the right person – but boy, was it worth the wait.
‘I’d been on a few blind dates, which were always disasters, but this was a humdinger.
‘I’ve lived a lot of my life on what most people saw as the other side of the fence where the grass was greener. But I’m utterly contented to be where I am now.’
When the marriage ended after 11 years in 2019 a friend said: ‘It’s very sad. They were such a lovely family and Tim seemed to be blissfully happy.’
Shortly after they split, Tatler magazine described Malin, 49, as ‘one of ‘society’s most eligible divorcees’.
She’s trying to make her own way in life as an entrepreneur after launching her own knitwear brand called Darlin London and has described herself as having ‘a super busy lifestyle as a highly social single mother of two and a business woman’.
