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Jail my £400m husband, says wife after 'penniless' claims
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent28 Sep 2009
The wife of a tycoon in a £400 million divorce case today said her estranged husband should “hear the clang of the prison gates” behind him if he continues to claim he is penniless.
Michelle Young's lawyer told a court her estranged husband Scot should “experience what it's like” behind bars. Young pleaded with a High Court judge that he should be spared jail because he suffers from mental health problems. But lawyers for Mrs Young told the court she believes he could be feigning his symptoms and “pulling the wool over doctors' eyes”.
Young, 47, who has been described as a “fixer” for Russian oligarchs and British billionaires, claims he is penniless but his wife, who is suing for divorce and maintenance, has put his wealth at £400 million.
She is facing eviction from her Regent's Park home because her husband has failed to pay the £10,000-a-month rent — even though she suspects he owns the property. He has also failed to pay the £36,000-a-year school fees for their children Scarlet, 16, and Sasha, 14, the court heard.
In June, Mrs Justice Parker ordered Young to come clean about his finances and reveal where it all went — or face six months in prison.
Today his lawyers admitted he was in default of the court order but stressed that he apologised, having realised his failings, and promised to comply in future. Young has said his property empire has collapsed and he is being pursued for £27 million by creditors. He expects to be made bankrupt and says that, far from having £400 million, he is worth “minus £27 million”.
Young says he can only afford legal representation thanks to a £50,000 loan from his friend, the restaurateur Richard Caring.
Since August he has been treated by a psychiatrist and undergone hospital treatment. But David Balcombe QC, representing Mrs Young, claimed Young's contrition was “cynically contrived”. He said: “Mr Young should be conveyed from this court to prison. This husband ought to hear the clang of the prison gates and find out what it is like not to comply with a court order.
“The effect of prison can alter behaviour once it has been sampled. The court must impress on him his duty to comply with court orders so he cannot simply flout them and ignore them as this litigant has chosen to do.
“He is somebody who has enjoyed a massive fortune but now says it's all gone, but hasn't provided any worthwhile information to enable his wife to understand where it has all gone and how it has all gone.”
Mr Balcombe said there was a paucity of information about Young's “mental health problems” and called for an independent doctor to examine him. “We cannot say this court must find that this was feigned and he was pulling the wool over the doctor's eyes because we don't have the evidence,” he said.
The judge is expected to make her decision on whether to jail Young later today. She renewed the passport confiscation order.
Young, who owned several multi-million-pound properties, sold a £19 million family home on Wentworth Park Estate, Surrey, to oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He is also said to be a close friend of billionaire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter and Sir Philip Green.
The case continues.
