The fiancée of billionaire David Sullivan, a well-known reality TV personality, is standing by him amid serious allegations. Sullivan has been accused of exploiting teenage glamour models for sexual purposes.
Ampika Pickston, 44, criticized what she described as media “sensationalism” following a BBC Panorama documentary that alleged her partner had sexually assaulted at least eight women, with incidents going back to the 1980s.
In the wake of these accusations, Pickston expressed gratitude to her supporters for their “love and support.” Sullivan, who is 33 years Pickston’s senior, now faces claims of being a sexual predator.
Pickston, one of the original stars of “The Real Housewives of Cheshire,” has been engaged to the billionaire since 2021. She appeared to dismiss the BBC’s findings with a cryptic message on social media on Tuesday.
Coinciding with the airing of the Panorama episode, Pickston chose to highlight her recent return to “The Real Housewives of Cheshire,” which was broadcast on ITV earlier this year.
And around the same time as Panorama went out last night, she chose to share the highlights of her return to Real Housewives of Cheshire, broadcast on ITV this year.
Today, in a post to her 246,000 followers on Instagram, she shared a poster that appeared to defend her husband-to-be, 77.
‘There is a world of difference between journalism and sensationalism,’ it said.
‘One seeks facts, the other seeks headlines, the public can usually tell the difference.’
And in a third post on Tuesday, she thanked a fan who had sent her a set of tarot cards and quartz stones ‘on a day when I really need some love and support.’
David Sullivan and Ampika Pickston have been engaged for the past five years
The billionaire is said to have popped the question on the reality star’s 40th birthday in July 2021
Ampika shared this AI post about the truth mattering and sensationalism after the Panorama broadcast
Ampika, who starred in five series of Real Housewives before quitting in 2017 amid reported tensions on set, has recently returned to the show.
She was previously married to billionaire businessman Mark Pickston, with whom she shares her son.
In 2021 it was revealed that David Sullivan had left his partner of 25 years to date her.
They were engaged soon afterwards.
The couple had known each other for a decade before that.
She is said to split her time between her £2.6million home near Hale in Cheshire and his Essex mansion close to Epping Forest.
As well as being a reality TV star, Ampika is a businesswoman in her own right.
She founded Ampika’s Aesthetics, a firm which provides training in cosmetic procedures and also went into the care trade.
Two years ago, a children’s home she ran called Moss Farm Children’s Home was closed by Ofsted after one youngster went ‘without food for days’ and a second went missing and was sexually assaulted.
She has vehemently disputed the watchdog’s findings that her staff were unable to keep children safe.
Inspectors judged the home ‘inadequate’ on all fronts and said staff failed to notify authorities of serious safeguarding incidents.
Last year the children’s home was permanently closed after a tribunal judge upheld a decision to cancel its registration amid concerns about its care.
Before their relationship, David Sullivan previously dated ex-girlfriend Emma Benton-Hughes, a former porn star, for 25 years who he made his co-chairman at West Ham.
They had two sons together: David Junior and Jack.
David was in a relationship with Emma Benton-Hughes, a former porn star, for 25 years (David and Emma pictured with their son David Jr in 2019)
Their mother, who also goes by the name Eve Vorley, was a Page 3 girl and involved in a number of adult films in the late 90s and early 2000s.
She starred in films such as ‘Lesbian Nurses’, ‘Electric Blue: Nude Wives – Private Parts’ and ‘Naked Neighbours’, and directed films including ‘Horny Housewives on the Job’ and ‘Sex Mad Secretaries’.
Ampika, who starred in five series of Real Housewives before quitting in 2017 amid reported tensions on set, has recently returned to the show.
Before meeting her fiancé of five years, David Sullivan, Ampika was engaged to a mystery man in 2018 following a whirlwind romance.
The beauty entrepreneur met the businessman, whom she did not name, through an online dating website and he popped the question after just a ‘short time’ together.
The glamorous mother-of-one described her fiancé at the time as a ‘breath of fresh air’ who ‘gets on fantastically well’ with her then 14-year-old son, Jake.
But it didn’t work out and she has found love again with David Sullivan.
Mr Sullivan resigned from his post at West Ham over the weekend after learning of the investigation that has collected the allegations, which span decades and date back to the 1980s.
At least eight women have given detailed accounts of experiences they claim to have had with Sullivan as young models seeking work on his Sunday Sport and Daily Sport newspapers.
They accuse Sullivan of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex or oral sex during business meetings by suggesting it would aid their careers. Sullivan denies the allegations.
The BBC also reports that Sullivan, 77, has separately admitted to paying for sex in the 1990s with a girl who he understood to be 16 or 17 years old.
He was in his 40s at the time, and it only became illegal to pay for sex with a 16 or 17-year-old in 2003.
Sullivan, one of the country’s richest men after building his fortune on porn, newspapers and football, quit West Ham over the weekend, while protesting his innocence, after BBC Panorama and The Times confirmed they would be publishing the findings of their joint investigation.
He said he ‘categorically’ denies all the allegations, and vowed to sue any media outlet that repeats them. Sullivan currently retains his 38.8 per cent stake in West Ham.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been accused of abusing a number of women and preying on them for sex, but denies the allegations
Sacha Wall is the only alleged victim who wanted to be named, and claims Sullivan tried to have sex with her in exchange for help with her career
Sullivan ran the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers in the late 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and it was while seeking modelling work at his titles that the women claim they were abused
Sacha Wall is the only alleged victim of Sullivan’s predatory behaviour who wanted to be named.
She claims that, as a 24-year-old aspiring model, Sullivan tried to pressure her into a sexual encounter by suggesting it would advance her career.
Ms Wall said that in 1998, she was invited to Sullivan’s Essex mansion for what she had believed would be a business meeting.
She recalled being surprised to find him dressed very informally, in flip-flops, red shorts and a t-shirt.
Sullivan leafed through her modelling portfolio while repeating ‘very nice, very nice’, in a way that made her uncomfortable, Ms Wall claims.
She says he then instructed her to follow him upstairs and undress down to her underwear – which she did, because she was interested in seeking topless modelling work.
He then allegedly told her to come and sit next to him – at which point she moved away and put her bra back on.
When she told him she would not sleep with him, she claims he looked ‘very shocked’ and replied: ‘What, not even a b**w job?’
Ms Wall said she was ‘really scared’ to find the door locked when she tried to leave, but that Sullivan opened it when she demanded to be let out.
She later appeared in his Sport newspaper, but said she was often given the worst jobs.
This is Sullivan’s mansion in Essex, which is where a number of the alleged incidents are said to have happened
A 1990s-era modelling shot of Ms Wall, from around the time she claims Sullivan tried to pressure her into a sexual encounter
A woman, whose name has been changed to Anna by the publishers of the investigation, appeared in the Sport the month after her 17th birthday. She entered the Miss Sport competition, which involved sending photos into the newspaper.
She was then invited to an event at an Essex nightclub, which she attended with her mother as a chaperone.
At the venue – where the entertainment included women dancing on tabletops surrounded by large groups of ‘touchy-feely’ men – she claims she was invited to go for a private chat with Sullivan.
He allegedly asked the 17-year-old to give him a ‘b**w job’, promising he would make her a ‘star’ – but she refused.
BBC broadcaster Tony Livesey has temporarily stepped down from his 5 Live show after he was named in a Panorama investigation by a glamour model who claims she was forced to have sex with David Sullivan to get work.
The corporation has said it is now ‘considering the matters raised’ about the DJ, who was due on air from Monday to Thursday this week.
A woman, whose name was changed to Florence to protect her identity, has claimed that David Sullivan ‘took away her innocence’ when he pressured her into sleeping with him in 1999.
Florence has alleged the billionaire West Ham co-owner forced her to have sex at his mansion when she was 20 and Sullivan was 50.
She claims the meeting, which she believed would be a professional casting and job interview, was only set up when she met Tony Livesey in the Daily Sport newsroom and he personally telephoned Sullivan to organise it.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The Panorama investigation included allegations about Tony Livesey which we take seriously. We also note Tony has firmly denied the allegations.
‘He has asked to step back from presenting his radio show for a short period and we will be considering the matters raised by the programme. We will not be commenting further at this stage.’
The naming of the current Radio 5 Live DJ by one of eight alleged victims of David Sullivan is a major headache for new BBC Director General, Matt Brittin.
Mr Brittin has just taken over from Tim Davie who battled a series of serious sex scandals involving BBC stars including Huw Edwards, Tim Westwood and most recently Scott Mills.
Tony Livesey was editor-in-chief of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport. A woman, named only as Florence, claims it was he who organised her visit to Sullivan’s house where he allegedly coerced her into sex
Florence, then 20, claims she met Mr Livesey, then editor of the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers (pictured in last night’s Panorama), who then telephoned Sullivan to arrange a date for her to visit the businessman’s house
Florence claims she met Mr Livesey, then editor of the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers, who then telephoned Sullivan to arrange a date for her to visit the businessman’s house.
She told Panorama: ‘He [Tony Livesey] picked up his phone on this messy desk and called Sullivan. He went: “Have you got your diary there… can you do this date?” I was like: “I can do that date.” He then said: “Write it in – you’re going to see David Sullivan.”‘
Eight days later she went to Sullivan’s mansion in Theydon Bois, Essex. He allegedly told her at the meeting in his office that she would be one of his ‘regular girls’ – working as a glamour model in his newspapers and magazines – if they had sex.
She claims he then manoeuvred her into one of his bedrooms, pulled his tracksuit bottoms down and forced himself on her.
‘I’m 99.9 per cent sure I said: “I don’t want to.” It was almost like a transaction… That’s how it felt,’ she told Panorama.
Mr Livesey claimed in his newspaper memoir Babes, Booze, Orgies and Aliens that he and Sullivan came up with the ‘Countdown to 16’ pornographic feature.
The Sunday Sport used revealing images of young girls to tease the publication of topless pictures when they turned 16 – which was at the time the minimum age someone could appear nude.
It was raised to the age of 18 in 2004.
Mr Livesey told BBC Panorama that he has ‘no recollection’ of the alleged incident Florence described.
He said he had ‘great sympathy for a woman who may have become a victim’, but rejected any suggestion that he had played ‘any role whatsoever in that scenario’ and said he found the allegation ‘abhorrent’.
He also denied that he was behind the ‘Countdown to 16’ pornographic feature.
Instead he told the BBC that it was ‘categorically’ not his idea and that much of his book was actually fictionalised in order to make it appear that he ‘was at the centre of all stories’, when he wasn’t.
