ADAM FAITH BATTLES EVICTION FROM HOME

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Dec 5, 1999 | by JAMES HARPER

SIXTIES pop idol Adam Faith is facing eviction - from the country estate of Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

Trustees of Chevening, Mr Cook's official residence, have started court proceedings to remove the former television star and his wife, Jackie, from their rented home which is in the grounds.

The row follows the expiry of the lease on Shootfield House, the 12-bedroom mansion near Sevenoaks, Kent. The trustees want Faith to carry out extensive repairs to the house and immediate surrounds.

But the singer, who had a Top Ten hit with What Do You Want If You Don't Want Money, and starred as Budgie in the successful TV series, says the cost is too high.

He is disputing a list of renovations the trustees are demanding be carried out before the lease is renewed.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed that the case is in the courts. But the spokesman insisted that the action was nothing to do with Mr Cook or the Foreign Office.

"It is entirely a matter for the trustees," he said.

Shootfield House is leased in Mr Faith's real name of Terence Nelhams-Wright.

The couple have been renting the house since 1986 and the current lease expired at the end of October.

A spokesman for the trustees said: "The situation is in the courts and the trustees feel it is inappropriate for them to comment."

Faith, 58, turned to acting in the Seventies after his pop career started to slide.

He has made millions of pounds from a career as a businessman, but his domestic life has suffered and he has split from his wife of more than 30 years several times.

In 1985 Jackie stood by Faith after it was revealed he had been having an affair with tennis star Chris Evert after they were introduced by her then husband John Lloyd.