Tycoon's lover pleads guilty to fraud

The lover of one of Britain's richest men today pleaded guilty to benefits fraud.

Former lap dancer Michelle Ross - partner of Carphone Warehouse boss David Ross, 39, who is worth an estimated £400 million - admitted claiming benefits while working as a model.

Ross, 27, said in court she had fraudulently claimed almost £8,000 in housing and council tax and income support between 2000 and 2002.

In the same two year period - when she also met Mr Ross, who coincidentally shares her surname - she earned nearly £25,000 in modelling fees.

Soberly dressed in a black polo neck jumper and pinstripe trousers, Ross broke down as she pleaded guilty to three charges of benefits fraud.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting at Kingston Magistrates Court, said Ross had received a £298 fee for modelling on 11 August, 2000. In the same fortnight she filled in forms for housing, council tax benefits and income support, claiming she was unemployed.

The court heard she received a total of £7,970 in benefits and in the same period received £19,996 from MOT Model Agency and fees of £278 and £4,789 for other modelling work.

A trained ballet dancer with a love of opera and classical music, Ms Ross worked for designer John Galliano before meeting her first husband on a music video shoot. She is secretive about her first husband with whom she had a daughter, Ella.

The marriage lasted four years and after a divorce, Ross started pole dancing at Stringfellows nightclub as a means to support their child, Ella, now seven.

Then in October 2001 Ross had a chance meeting at Heathrow airport. Rushing to catch a plane, she was helped by David Ross. Friends said it was love at first sight and 14 months ago she gave birth to Carl Cosmo Thomas Ross.

Last September, Carl was christened at Mr Ross's 700-year-old home, Nevill Holt Hall, in Leicestershire. Carl is heir to the Carphone Warehouse fortune.

Mr Ross bought the 90-room house and estate, complete with a church and five cottages, four years ago for around £2 million - but it also required £3 million of renovation work. At the time, he was in a relationship with Ali Cockayne, the mother of former England rugby captain Will Carling's five-year-old son.

The multi-millionaire split with Cockayne a year later, in June 2001, amid reports that she was keen to marry. Four months later, he bumped into Michelle Ross at Heathrow. They were both catching the same flight to the golf tournament on the Isle of Man.

In a rare interview last year, she said of her relationship with Mr Ross: "We are always travelling together. We don't really have a base - we live between different houses.

"I travel a lot but I have my own house in Kingston Hill. My children are with me. If David is out of the country, he asks us to travel to go to see him. David is a very special man and we are both very lucky to have each other."

Today's case was adjourned for the magistrates to study reports.

Ross was given unconditional bail and is due to appear again at the court on 23 March. She left without comment.