Phones4u billionaire John Caudwell ‘told business partner she was a thief who needed to see a shrink’ and claims she stole expenses to pay for celebrity lifestyle

THE billionaire founder of Phones4u told a partner in another venture that she was a thief who needed to see a shrink, a judge heard yesterday.

Lawyers for Nathalie Dauriac, locked in a £10million row with John Caudwell, said he summoned her to his Mayfair home to demand she “confess to having stolen £26,000 of expenses”.

The cash allegedly funded a trip to Malaga, gifts and a birthday cake for her ex-husband.

The court heard that she claimed company expenses for a birthday cake, gifts, flights for herself, her husband, their daughter and her nanny.

Details of her claims were shown to Mr Justice Marcus Smith and included flights and hotels for a birthday party in Malaga for Dawn Ward, star of The Real Housewives of Cheshire ITV television series.

Mr Caudwell, 65, who grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, is said to have branded her “corrupt” — saying she needed “psychiatric help”.

Ms Dauriac, 39, denies she was on the fiddle at the wealth management company she set up with him. She claims she was the victim of a plot to get rid of her.

The ex-Coutts banker’s QC Thomas Plewman told the High Court in ­London: “Ms Dauriac was constructively dismissed.”

She wants damages for £10million in shares she says she lost out on.

Signia Wealth Management’s QC insisted: “Her approach to expenses claims was brazen.” Mr Caudwell was not in court but is due to give evidence later.

The case continues.