Boss of luxury menswear brand ‘threatened to shoot employee for gatecrashing party’

The millionaire owner of luxury menswear brand Oliver Brown threatened to shoot a staff member for drunkenly gatecrashing a private party and eating off a VIP's plate, a tribunal heard.

Kristian Robson – whose company tailors to celebrities and footballers – had a furious row with Jerome Ingle-Smith after he turned up uninvited at an afterparty in Mayfair to celebrate the launch of a new store in Mayfair's Jermyn Street.

Robson feared the assistant manager was “wrecking” the afterparty, which he had paid models and social media influencers to attend.

When “defiant” Ingle-Smith refused to leave, he threatened to kill him, saying “I will beat the s**t out of you” and ‘I will f***ing shoot you”, an employment tribunal heard.

Ingle-Smith, 41, had reportedly got drunk at the launch party but was not invited to the afterparty at the Isabel Mayfair on 3 November last year.

Witnesses told the tribunal that Ingle-Smith “helped himself to drinks” while serving others and was “drunk, loud and obnoxious” – but he insisted he only drank a quarter of a negroni cocktail.

His attendance at the afterparty led to a furious argument with Robson when he turned up and took the seat of a VIP and started eating from their plate.

Sitting at the other end of the table, Robson ordered Ingle-Smith to leave, however the assistant manager refused so his boss marched to his side of the table and removed his plate.

A row erupted as Robson tried to get him to leave and eventually security were called.

After resigning over the threats the following morning, Ingle-Smith has now won compensation after he successfully sued Oliver Brown for constructive dismissal.

Employment judge Natasha Joffe said: ”It seemed to me that a significant source of Mr Ingle-Smith’s outrage was the fact that he felt disrespected and humiliated by the events which had occurred.

"He felt that he had been invited to the event and was entitled to be there…

"I concluded that [the threats] played a material role in his decision to resign although it seemed to me that there were other matters also in play such as the fact that the whole incident was humiliating to him.”

She added: "Mr Robson was sorely provoked but that is not the same thing as having reasonable and proper cause for issuing threats.

"He had cause to firmly require Mr Ingle-Smith to leave and to involve restaurant security in his removal but a threat to kill self-evidently is not a reasonable and proper way to persuade a person to leave premises.

"Mr Robson’s behaviour was poor, but as he explained to the tribunal it was an important night for him and he felt Mr Ingle-Smith was wrecking it."

Ingle-Smith, from Surbiton in south west London, will be awarded compensation at a later date. He is seeking £5,688 in damages.

However, the judge said that any award will have to be reduced by 75% due to his behaviour on the night.