Convicted fraudster Davenport, 52, denies being at the bash or organising it, but friends and workers claim he was behind the party
HE’S the posh convicted fraudster who claimed the fortune he made from throwing wild sex parties allowed him to dine on lobster in his prison cell.
But now the murder of a bouncer outside a raunchy New Year’s Eve bash allegedly run by “Lord of Fraud” Eddie Davenport may mean his high life finally comes crashing down for good.
Tudor Simionov, 33, bled to death after he was knifed trying to stop a mob gatecrashing the event in London’s Park Lane.
Louche showman Davenport, 52, denies being at the bash or organising it, but friends and workers claim he was behind the party, whose guests reportedly included young women in scanty outfits and lingerie.
A source told The Sun that the three years Davenport spent in jail after his 2011 conviction for a multi-million pound loans swindle had not changed the self-styled aristocrat.
The insider claimed: “He is utterly incapable of reform. He is the sort of person who would scam anyone to make a buck. It is a case of buyer beware and handle with gloves.
“He liked to boast that money could buy you anything in prison and that is what made life very easy for him inside.”
Edward Ormus Sharington Davenport was born in West London, the son of a wealthy Chelsea restaurateur.
The public schoolboy broke on to the nightlife circuit while still in his teens, organising decadent bashes for up to 10,000 rich kids at a time.
In 1986, aged 20, he founded a company which staged country house parties known as “Gatecrasher Balls”, which became notorious for their young guests having drunken sex.
Jail is for people who robbed old ladies, not for financial offences
'Lord of Fraud' Eddie Davenport
Photos of young toffs in black tie burrowing under the skirts of Sloanette lovelies were splashed across newspapers, with one report declaring: “There were girls doing it, really doing it, under the tables.”
A 14-year-old girl stumbling out of a party was quoted as saying: “Boys is what it’s all about.”
But the business went bust in 1989 after Davenport was found to have underpaid his VAT bills and was convicted of tax evasion.
He then went to jail for the first time, in the end only serving 16 days when his original nine-month sentence was reduced on appeal.
Davenport was soon back in business running clubs, and in the late Nineties he acquired the perfect posh venue for his parties — a mansion regarded as one of London’s most magnificent 18th century residences.
Designed in 1775 by Robert Adams, the 24-bedroom pile with its own ballroom had been the Sierra Leone government’s High Commission.
At the time he bought it, the West African country was gripped by civil war, and its government later accused Davenport of tricking them into the sale during the chaos. The mansion was valued at £5million at the time but he paid just £50,000.
The sex parties he held there were believed to be the most extreme in London, with punters enjoying anything from group sex to bondage and swinging in one night.
Stacks of mattresses were kept in the basement for the use of guests. At one bash, a 1,000-gallon lake of cocktails was created in the same basement for revellers to row across.
One guest revealed: “I don’t remember him ever getting stuck in - but I know that he loved watching all the pretty young girls.”
The house was also hired for Boy George’s 40th birthday party, as a movie location for 2010’s The King’s Speech and the music video for Amy Winehouse’s 2006 track Rehab.
An eager self-publicist, “Lord Davenport of Gifford” has also been photographed with everyone from rocker Sir Mick Jagger to socialite Paris Hilton. While many have believed him to be a real peer, he bought the title with an estate in Shropshire.
Despite all this, partygoers claim that the rich and powerful still flock to Eddie’s bashes — and indulge in shocking goings-on.
One said: “The higher up the people here, the more twisted they are.”
Three years ago Eddie bragged to The Sun of one orgy that featured 300 people: “We made a massive bed which covered a whole floor of the house. There were masses of people writhing on it, doing all sorts. Body parts all over the place.”
He continued: “My parties were always full of gorgeous women but there are even more now. Social media has helped.
“They’ve read Fifty Shades, they want to experiment, they want fulfilment, they want everything.
“They don’t wait around for a bloke to take them to an orgy any more, they’re right there at the front of the queue.”
Meanwhile, an insider said: “You are expected to have sex at his parties. They’re not for the fainthearted. Once you’re in, you’re expected to put out.”
She continued: “I went to his house once and it was very odd. It was full of all these beautiful, partially dressed Asian women.”
Another contact said: “There is something odd about him. He is very limp and slimy. You get the feeling that whilst he might get older the girls would always stay younger.”
His one-time teenage business partner, Jeremy Taylor, revealed: “Eddie used to say he couldn’t see the point of getting married.
“He thought he’d never have children. I think he couldn’t face paying for it all.”
Michael Thorne, who has known Davenport since they were both 13, said: “I have never met a man so focused on making money.
“He has this astonishing ability to see how he can stay within the law — but only just. He can sail right up to the edge of it being illegal.”
But eventually he went too far.
In 2011 Davenport was convicted of fraud as the ringleader of a group of nine conmen for his role in Gresham Ltd, a finance firm that took advance fees of up to £285,000 in return for arranging mega loans which never materialised. There were at least 51 victims and the judge sentenced Davenport to seven years and eight months in jail, describing him as a “very dishonest man”.
However, he was released from Wandsworth Prison early in 2014 after clemency was granted on the grounds of ill health.
Davenport says his business contacts remained loyal even when he was behind bars.
Some even visited him at Wandsworth Prison in South London, where he served most of his sentence.
He said: “It was a s***hole but was somewhere where people could see you. It wasn’t as pleasant as the Ritz or the Wolseley but . . . I had plenty of visitors.”
The fraudster also claims he spent his days behind bars sharpening his badminton game and eating lobster for dinner.
He said: “Between your door, you get a menu every week. And I don’t know why, but on my menu they used to have lobster on it. Regularly. So I would just tick the box.”
The Ministry of Justice does not comment on the cases of individual inmates, but a spokesman said lobster has never been served to prisoners at HMP Wandsworth.
After his release, Davenport was ordered to pay a £14million confiscation order over his fraud conviction, and had to sell the Portland Place mansion to pay for it. It went for more than £25million, allowing him to keep a healthy profit. He now lives in a £5million pentouse opposite London’s Ritz.
Davenport remains furious he ever had to spend any time in jail.
He told a 2016 Vice documentary: “The idea that someone is a criminal because they’ve been involved in a white collar crime is nonsense.
“White collar crime, it happens. It’s a bureaucratic nightmare out there, people get it wrong, make a mistake, get greedy. It’s nothing like being a criminal and shouldn’t be penalised in the same way.
“Jail is there for people who robbed old ladies and committed rape, not for someone who committed a financial offence. I play it close to the wire, but in business, you sometimes take a risk.”
