Kate Garraway Faces Unexpected £427,000 Debt from Late Husband’s Business Collapse

Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has revealed her shock upon discovering she is still facing a staggering £427,000 in debt linked to her late husband Derek Draper’s defunct business, Astra Aspera Ltd.

New paperwork released this week by HMRC and liquidators shows that the company, which Derek founded in 2021 and which went into liquidation in March 2022, still owes nearly £140,000 in outstanding loans and a £288,000 tax bill to the UK tax authority.

Despite £37,000 in royalties being paid into the business account, the company is now without assets, and efforts by HMRC to recover the remaining money are ongoing. It is understood that Kate, who has been financially strained since taking on full-time care responsibilities for Derek during his long illness, does not currently have the means to repay the debt.

Derek Draper passed away in January 2024 at the age of 56, after suffering serious complications from Covid-19 since 2020. The emotional and financial toll on Garraway during his illness has been significant, as she balanced caregiving duties with her career and parenting.

According to The Sun, Kate has so far paid back £21,000. A spokesperson for Garraway said the television host was blindsided by the figures presented in the new statement from liquidators: “Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek’s company have asked for and more over the past four years.

She doesn’t recognise these figures and is shocked that it’s being presented in this way by them. “Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her, but she’s determined to put things right. She is in constant contact with HMRC to make sure she honours what’s required from Derek’s now defunct company.”

Sources close to Garraway also emphasised that the debts stem from Derek’s business affairs, not her own personal finances, though the burden of managing them has fallen squarely on her shoulders.

In her ITV documentary Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story, the presenter was candid about the financial pressures she faced:

“Derek’s care costs more than my salary from ITV and that is before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids, so we are at a crunch point.

“I am in debt. I can’t earn enough money to cover my debt because I am managing Derek’s care, and I can’t even use the money I do have to support Derek’s recovery, because it’s going on the basics all the time.”

Despite the ongoing hardship, Garraway remains committed to resolving the debts and continuing her public work while caring for her family.

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Photo Credit: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock