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A wife at the centre of a £400 million divorce battle has been evicted from her £8,666-a-month rented home after her estranged husband failed to pay the bill.
Michelle Young, 45, has been forced to downsize to a three-bedroom property in St John's Wood in the latest twist to her bid to obtain half of her husband John's apparently missing fortune.
The pair split in 2006 after 11 years of marriage and are locked in a High Court divorce battle.
Mr Young, 47, was a "fixer" to the super-rich and counted Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green among his acquaintances. The family once enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, based in a £19 million property.
Mr Young insists he is now £28.6 million in debt and cannot pay his wife's demands. But he has been threatened with six months' jail for contempt of court for failing to disclose documents related to his wealth.
Yesterday Mrs Young was formally served with eviction papers requiring her to move with her two daughters, Scarlet, 17, and Sasha, 15, after being unable to pay £23,720 in outstanding rent.
Mrs Young is thought to have moved last weekend to the new property - which costs less than half to rent than the Regents Park home.
A friend of the family told the Daily Telegraph: "The move has been a nightmare, really horrific.
"The girls are at such a critical stage in their schooling so to have had to deal with all this on top has not been fair."
At the eviction hearing last month, lawyer Felix Geiringer told the court: "The fact that she continues to wish to live in a £8,666-a-month rented house, places her children in the most expensive schools, comes to court dressed in very fine clothes, the fact that she makes these choices does not bring her within the realm of exceptional hardship."
Reader views (9)
Tut tut you people, Schadenfreude is such a terrible thing. :>
- Jimbob, Kensington, 26/11/2009 16:09
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I feel sympathy for her - people are being unpleasant out of jealousy about the amount of money she pays in rent: however, like many women she is facing a huge slash in income and turmoil. I think, however, she should find a better friend to comment than the one who thinks moving house has been 'a nightmare, really horrific' - that one definitely needs to visit some of the soldiers brought back from Iraq, or children lying in Great Ormand street, and revise her idea of what the word 'horrific' means and then help her friend to be more positive and count the many, many blessings she's still got.
- Roz, France, 26/11/2009 15:34
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Poor luv. It looks like she hasn't eaten a decent meal for years...
- Dannyp, Egham, 26/11/2009 14:24
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£8,666-a-month for the property! Well, how about somewhere to rent with a price you can pay, rather than trying to live a false lifestyle you cannot afford.
- Dom, London, 26/11/2009 14:15
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I'm surprised she found a landlord willing to rent to her when she has £23,720 in outstanding rent on her last place, and this new house is over 4k a month, hardly cheap. No good previous landlords reference then? I wouldn't rent her a studio flat.
- David, London, 26/11/2009 13:08
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St john's wood NW8, ahhh diddums.
- Reiss, London, 26/11/2009 12:55
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Would moving back home with her parents temporarilly mean moving onto a council housing estate I wonder?
Was this woman rich before meeting and marrying her soon to be former husband? For someone to be still making such high demands for herself certainly gives a clue about why they may have split up.
She might keep in mind that there would appear to be open plan housing in some parts of the country she could apply for temporary housing in for herself and her clearly near destitute daughters, poor things.
- Ken.H, Harrow. UK, 26/11/2009 12:37
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Boo hoo
- David, London, 26/11/2009 12:09
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Downsize to a three bedroom property in St. John's Wood.
My heart bleeds for her. She must really be slumming it!
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 26/11/2009 11:01
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