Gordon Ramsay brother sells Big Issue

Published on Monday 3 August 2009 22:04

HE HAS seen his business empire hammered by the impact of the recession, been branded a "low-life" by Australia's prime minister for an outspoken attack on a female broadcaster and been rapped by TV watchdogs for his on-air swearing.

Now Gordon Ramsay, who watched profits at his group of restaurants plunge nearly 90 per cent last year, is facing another bout of bad publicity after the multi-millionaire's drug addict brother was pictured selling a magazine for the homeless outside a department store.

Ronnie Ramsay, who has been disowned by his famous older brother, was captured as a Big Issue trader outside Marks & Spencer in Plymouth.

Looking scruffy and unkempt, the 41-year-old was being photographed for the first time since returning to Britain after being jailed in Indonesia for possessing heroin.

He had been facing ten years behind bars but was told he was being treated leniently after he pleaded guilty. The former truck driver had been found with 100mg of the drug after being approached by police outside a supermarket in Bali.

The star chef had previously told how he had spent about 300,000 trying to help his brother with drug rehabilitation, but had since given up and had turned his back on him.

In an interview after his arrest, Ronnie Ramsay claimed his brother had refused a plea for 6,000 to help pay for a lawyer to represent him in the drug case.

He said yesterday that his brother and mother had "wiped their hands'' of him and were refusing to speak to him.

He said: "I'm down on my luck and haven't had any contact with Gordon or my mum for a while. They have wiped their hands of me and this is all I can do to get by. Things have gone bad for me since I was in Indonesia. I've been back in Britain for ages but the family won't talk to me."

Writing in his autobiography, the chef revealed he had previously paid for his younger brother to attend rehab five times. He wrote: "It's the one thing I feel I've failed at. I find it hard knowing that there's nothing I can do to help."

After he was jailed, Ramsay also revealed his addict brother threatened to kill him and his children in an effort to get cash.

He said: "Of course Ronnie wanted money. He's tried everything. Death threats. Calls at midnight from various horrible people saying they know what time my kids leave school."

Gordon Ramsay has had a year to forget on a number of fronts, mainly over his troubled restaurant empire, which experts say has come close to collapse as revenues tumbled, and debts and tax bills mounted.

Earlier this year, the 42-year-old conceded that "ambition" and "tenacity" nearly heralded the demise of his restaurant empire, after he was forced to sell off several of his interests.