ZapGossip

Heavy D forced to fork out £5k in damages on Judge Rinder

Heavy D was forced to fork out £5,000 in damages after Judge Rinder found him guilty on today’s show (15.01.18) of trashing his rental home in North London late last year.
The former ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ star was taken to court by landlord Stephen Cooper because he owed him £12,000 in unpaid rent and left the house in Enfield in such a mess that it required thousands of pounds worth of repairs once he had moved out.
The ‘Storage Hunters’ funny man – who is also known as Colin Newell – had also filed a counterclaim for £8,000 on the basis of loss of earnings because he believed a negative story that Stephen had sold to a newspaper for £200 had ruined his career.
Speaking on today’s episode of ‘Judge Rinder’, Heavy D said: "No one is going to book me again, it’s going to affect my livelihood and I can’t provide for my family."
However, after looking into all of the evidence – including seeing photographs of the state the property was left in – Judge Rinder decided to throw out Heavy D’s counterclaim out because Stephen had given his £200 fee to Great Ormond Street Hospital and he didn’t feel he went to the papers in order to be "malicious."
Judge Rinder said: "Now I don’t know whether it’s £6,408 but I am perfectly satisfied that it is in excess of £5,000 to put that house right.
"Consequently, as a matter of law, you are liable for that sum because you had to keep that house in good and reasonable order … and you did not.
"So this court awards you the maximum sum of £5,000. Now because you did not leave that house in good and reasonable order, he was, as a matter of free speech, entitled to tell the world about it and consequently he got in touch with the newspaper. I would be upset if he pocketed that money himself but he did not.
"It give some some indication as to whether he was malicious or not. He was cross, certainly, but not malicious! … This court does dismiss your countercase. "
And Stephen was pleased with the ruling because he thinks Heavy D is a "leech."
He said: "He can’t be allowed to carry on like this. He’s just a leech. He just thrives on other people and it’s not right. What you did to my family, I will never forgive. I am totally pleased you have lost money."
But the 45-year-old star doesn’t believe Stephen gave his newspaper fee to charity and is convinced he’s just "obsessed" with him.
He said: "I don’t believe he gave the money to charity. You’re obsessed with me…"