Husband finds out his former wife has cancer - so he demands her share of their pension back

Instead, he wrote and asked for some of his money back.

Mrs Blair, 54, told yesterday of the devastating letter she received from Patrick Blair's solicitor.

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It requested that she forego her half of his £330,000 pension pot, which she had been awarded in the divorce - so the "fund can be preserved".

Mr Blair feared that if his ex-wife died before 60, when she could access the fund, the money would be lost to the pension provider.

The 58-year-old apparently did not realise that his former wife, a university administrator, had been given an excellent prognosis.

Mrs Blair yesterday accused her husband of "writing me off as dead".

She said: "Patrick was very keen to keep his pension fund from me, even though I was entitled to my share.

"Now he is trying to recover it again using the callous suggestion that I will not live to enjoy it."

Mr Blair moved out of the couple's four-bedroom detached home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, in October last year.

Their divorce was made absolute in July.

It was agreed in Coventry County Court that their joint assets - and both their pension funds - would be divided equally.

Mrs Blair's pension is worth much less than her ex-husband's.

The following month, Mrs Blair discovered a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with cancer.

After two operations, she started chemotherapy last month.

Thankfully, her consultant said she has a 97 per cent chance of beating the disease and staying cancer-free for ten years.

But Mr Blair, a retired computer engineer, seemed to have missed out on this information.

Days after the first chemotherapy session, his brother Andrew, a solicitor, sent the letter.

He wrote: "Our client and our goodselves were very sorry to learn that Mrs Blair is undergoing a course of chemotherapy.

"Whilst our client does not want to cause any upset, it does occur to us that it may well be sensible, from the family's point of view, if there was a variation of the order to exclude pension sharing so that that fund can be preserved."

Mrs Blair said yesterday: "That night I hardly slept a wink. I thought it was a totally heartless and disgraceful way to behave."

The Blairs married in 1974.

They had two children, Stuart, 25, and Joanna, 21, but eventually grew apart, according to Mrs Blair.

Her solicitor, Chris Aldridge, said Mr Blair had little chance of recovering his ex-wife's share of the fund, and that his client would certainly not agree to it.

Mr Blair denies wanting the money for himself, and says his brother wrote a "reasonable letter".

He added: "I just want to preserve the pension fund for my children because if she doesn't live until she is 60 it will be wasted.

"I worked all my life for that pension so that it can support my family."