Dog loving millionaire to donate to dogs’ shelter

Daria Radionova, a student at LSE, is to sell her Swarovski crystal-encrusted car in order to raise money for the Manchester Dogs’ Home which was devastated by a fire in mid-September this year.

The car, a Mercedes CLS 350, was hand-encrusted by three of Radionova’s personal jewellers, whom she flew over from Russia. She stated, “it took them 12 hours a day for two months to complete.”

More than 60 animals were killed and around 150 were left homeless after a fire broke out at the Dogs’ Shelter on the 11th September.

Talking to the Tab, Radionova expressed “I want to raise money for the homeless animal shelter in the UK that was burned a few weeks ago, the one in Manchester. I cannot stay away from that situation.”

However, whilst initially stating that half of the proceeds from the sale of the car were to be sent to the Dog’s Shelter, she has recently downgraded this figure to 10 per cent.

Although the car has been in the press for over three weeks now, it appears no members of the public have interest in owning the sparkling vehicle. It is still for sale online at autotrader.com at the time of going to press (10th October).

At £150000, the price is three times the original selling price of the Mercedes, despite the crystals only costing £20,000 to add to the car.

A staff member from the Manchester Dogs’ Home said: “Oh god. It sounds tacky to me, but money’s money.” The estimated donation from Daria will be around £15000, adding to the mass donations already seen by the shelter.

The Manchester Evening News set up a JustGiving account after the incident, which has received over £1 million in donations.

A spokesman from Greater Manchester Police said that a 15-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy have been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the incident, but that “detectives and investigators from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service are continuing to investigate how the fire at Manchester Dogs’ Home started.”