Ramsay chef in deadly rampage

Gordon Ramsay's top chef went on an apparent drug-fuelled rampage through a Chelsea apartment block before plunging 40 feet to his death.


David Dempsey, a £70,000-a-year protégé of the celebrity chef, stormed through some 10 flats, leaving a trail of broken windows and blood. He got into

the block by scaling scaffolding and climbing through a window into an £800,000 flat on the second floor.

He was found dead at the bottom of the block in Elm Park Gardens after wrestling with an American resident who tried to take back a golf club Mr Dempsey had used to smash the windows. The American said he and his wife were terrified for their lives and feared the blood-covered intruder might have a gun. He said: "He was clearly out of his skull on drugs. From everything I heard and saw he looked like a classic victim of hallucinogenic drugs who thought he was Spiderman."

The bizarre death came only weeks after Ramsay's "genius" protégé had been made head chef at the Gordon Ramsay At Claridge's restaurant, after already earning a coveted Michelin star.

Today Ramsay told of his devastation at the loss of the 31-year-old chef, who had run his Amaryllis restaurant in Glasgow, and looked certain to rise to the very top of the culinary world.

Ramsay said: "I am completely shocked and devastated. David has worked for me for the past eight years and was not only a brilliant protege but also a friend."

Police are now waiting to examine toxicology reports on Mr Dempsey. One detective said: "We are investigating this as a burglary but the possibility he had taken drugs is clearly a line of inquiry."

Mr Dempsey had climbed out onto a ledge after panicking when he was confronted by one householder, and had apparently tried to jump to another ledge but misjudged the distance and fell to his death.

The extraordinary rampage began at around 11pm on Sunday evening. Mr Dempsey climbed from flatto-flat in a manner described by the porter who later discovered him dead as "like Spiderman". He broke at least eight windows and left dozens of residents in fear.

The porter said: "He was clearly killed on impact and it was a terrible sight."

Mr Dempsey had moved to Fulham from Glasgow, leaving his partner and young family in Scotland, to work in Gordon Ramsay's three-star restaurant. Ramsay travelled to Glasgow yesterday to break the news to Mr Dempsey's former colleagues.

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