He and his bandmates were once the epitome of risque glamour, forever cavorting on yachts – or so it seemed – in the company of impressionable young women who yearned for their favours wherever they performed in the world.
But save a prayer for Simon Le Bon, lead vocalist of 1980s pop band Duran Duran, as he won’t be daydreaming about past glories for a while.
For I can reveal that The Wild Boys singer and his wife, evergreen model Yasmin Le Bon, have been rudely yanked into the New Year by a blistering attack in which they are accused of everything from high-handedness to outright deceit.
As if that weren’t enough, the man who’s compiled the excoriating charge-sheet is an up-and-coming Treasury mandarin, Harry Dorrance-King, who lives in a low-rise block just yards from the Le Bons’ £5million, ten-bedroom mansion in Putney, south-west London.
![Singer Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran Engages in Dispute with Treasury Civil Servant Neighbor over 50ft Swimming Pool Construction at £5million London Mansion 2 The most incendiary claim is that Le Bon, 65, and Yasmin, 59, are engaged in a deliberate attempt at deception](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/19/21/80240679-12985077-The_most_incendiary_claim_is_that_Le_Bon_65_and_Yasmin_59_are_en-m-12_1705700404696.jpg)
The most incendiary claim is that Le Bon, 65, and Yasmin, 59, are engaged in a deliberate attempt at deception
![Singer Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran Engages in Dispute with Treasury Civil Servant Neighbor over 50ft Swimming Pool Construction at £5million London Mansion 4 Pictured, 1980s band Duran Duran from left to right, Roger Taylor, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Andy Taylor](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/19/21/80240693-12985077-image-m-11_1705700289230.jpg)
Pictured, 1980s band Duran Duran from left to right, Roger Taylor, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Andy Taylor
The couple, who secured permission three years ago to extend their house by a third, are now seeking the green light to erect an additional outside building, complete with changing rooms, next to the 50ft swimming pool they’re currently installing in their walled garden.
Dorrance-King, 32, an alumnus of £22,635-a-year City of London School who has degrees from both York University and the London School of Economics, has objected in a zinger of a letter now displayed on the local council website.
Accusing the couple of allowing scaffolding to remain in place after permission has lapsed, he alleges that their workmen ‘routinely leave construction rubbish and mess on the access road’, allow a ‘soil removal truck [to] routinely turn up before 8am’ and ‘have work vans and trucks routinely blocking the access to our property’, preventing carers from reaching an elderly neighbour.
![Singer Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran Engages in Dispute with Treasury Civil Servant Neighbor over 50ft Swimming Pool Construction at £5million London Mansion 6 The Le Bons¿ live in a £5million, ten-bedroom mansion in Putney. Pictured, aerial view flying over parks and row houses in Putney, West London](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/19/21/80240695-12985077-image-a-10_1705700230004.jpg)
The Le Bons’ live in a £5million, ten-bedroom mansion in Putney. Pictured, aerial view flying over parks and row houses in Putney, West London
A star oarsman at the London Rowing Club, Dorrance-King further claims that, when challenged, workmen have sworn at him and been ‘generally abusive’ – abuse which, he alleges, has included ‘threats of physical violence’.
But his most incendiary claim is that Le Bon, 65, and Yasmin, 59, are engaged in a deliberate attempt at deception.
‘I suspect that the swimming pool being dug out has also been used as a cover for the digging of a basement, which they do not have permission for,’ he writes.
Both Le Bon and his wife’s representatives were contacted but did not respond to requests for comment.
Le Bon said last October he was grateful that, these days, Yasmin accompanies him on tour.
‘When Yasmin’s there I don’t drink anything like as much,’ he explained, recalling that, when Duran Duran were in their pomp, he’d perform in front of ‘30,000 people and then go back to the hotel room with a couple of bottles of wine or a bottle of Mezcal and drink until I was in a stupor because it was the only way to get to sleep.
Added Le Bon of his wife, whom he married in 1985: ‘And she quite rightly doesn’t let me order cheese fondues. It’s a sad but inescapable fact that my cheese fondue days are over.’
Is it possible that he now finds Dorrance-King even less digestible?