Wife's fury as Labour lord and a 'stick thin Barbie doll' set up home together

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate walked out on his childhood sweetheart Jean and now lives with Debbie Glaister – described by his estranged wife as ‘a stick-thin Barbie-doll lookalike’.

I love her: Lord Mackenzie and Debbie Glaister at his apartment in Durham last week

The 64-year-old former police chief superintendent and father of two grown-up sons left the £400,000 family home in Shincliffe, County Durham, last September. He claimed no one else was involved and soon afterwards bought a £480,000 apartment in Durham.

Lady Mackenzie sought a reconciliation and asked her husband to give their 43-year marriage another chance – but then discovered he had moved their mutual friend, 42-year-old Ms Glaister, into his flat.

Last night Lord Mackenzie claimed his relationship with Ms Glaister began only after he and his wife split up.

But Lady Mackenzie, 62, claimed: ‘He said there was no one else, when all along he was with Debbie.’

Angry: Jean Mackenzie has been married to the peer for 43 years

Lady Mackenzie told how she and her husband had befriended Ms Glaister in a local pub and how she became a regular guest at their home after being dumped by her boyfriend.

But it was only after her husband walked out that Lady Mackenzie discovered he had embarked on a passionate affair with Ms Glaister, who runs a day centre for adults with learning difficulties.

Lady Mackenzie said: ‘She’s a stick-thin Barbie doll lookalike. Very attractive, with a shock of thick blonde hair. Quite small, but with an ample bosom.

‘I used to feel sorry for her at the pub – she’d been dumped by her German boyfriend – and invite her to parties and barbecues at our house. Unbeknown to me, she moved in on him and it seems he’d been nipping up the road to see her and carrying on with her.

‘Last September, he told me out of the blue that he was leaving me and there was no one else involved. I asked him to give it another go, but he cleared everything of his out of our house – even photo albums of our life together. I was devastated. Our sons and their wives had just given us grandchildren and they were very upset.’

Lady Mackenzie claimed: ‘It got nasty when he told me I would end up with nothing but there’s no way I’m walking away from 43 years of marriage without something to show for it.

‘In February, I learned that he was seeing her and had moved her into his apartment. I confronted him about it and he came clean, telling me he was in love and how he has 20 years left in him. He makes it sound like a fairy tale.’

Apart from the two properties in Durham, she said their joint assets included a holiday apartment in Tenerife – now on the market for £360,000 – and a £250,000 cottage in the Durham area, which has been sold as a result of the split.

Lady Mackenzie said she had filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and mental cruelty. ‘He’s been cruel in the way he has deceived me and how he has threatened to leave me with nothing,’ she said.

‘He was always a ladies’ man. But he just used to say to me, “I only flirt with them. There’s never anything in it.”’

Lord Mackenzie is a former president of the Police Superintendents’ Association and graduate of the FBI Academy. He became a Labour peer in 1998 and is no stranger to controversy.

In March 2003, he was forced to apologise after a newspaper published lurid claims that he had sex with an Algerian prostitute who worked as a barmaid in the House of Commons.

He admitted it was a mistake to invite the girl back to his rented London flat, but denied having sex with her. At the time, he was chairman of the Lords Home Affairs Committee and had spoken out against prostitution and drugs.

Last night Lord Mackenzie said his divorce was based on irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and not adultery and mental cruelty, as his wife has maintained.

‘My relationship with Deborah has nothing to do with the divorce,’ he said. ‘Divorce was on the cards a long, long time ago. My wife is trying to stir the pot.

‘I love my new partner and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her. I have known Deborah for ten years but she was not the cause of the marriage breakdown. Any suggestion of an intimate relationship with her before my wife and I separated is false.

‘I have always been willing to divide the matrimonial assets evenly with my wife and I have no intention of getting into a public slanging match. It is disappointing that she has decided to go public with her alleged grievances.

‘I am very concerned about the effect on my two sons and two new grandchildren. Things could have been resolved so much more amicably, but she chose to put matters in the public arena.’