'That's £28m I want back! ': Husband fights his ex in Appeals Court

13 April 2012

An insurance magnate today demanded a court strip his ex-wife of her record £48 million divorce settlement.

John Charman, 54, is claiming at an appeal hearing that Beverley, 53, should receive no more than £20 million.

Left to right: Beverley Charman, John Charman, their house in Sevenoaks.

Mr Charman, who owns the Bermuda-based Axis insurance group, was ordered by the High Court to pay the biggest divorce settlement in British history last August.

Mrs Charman had rejected an offer of £20 million in a hearing that was expected to have ramifications for the divorce case between Heather Mills and Sir Paul McCartney.

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Mr Charman, who also set up a £50 million trust fund for their two sons, has described the award as "grotesque and unfair".

Speaking last week he said: "I am a man of principle. I am not going to let this go."

Mr and Mrs Charman were married in 1976 and during their 27-year marriage he made millions in the City. Solicitors representing Mr Charman said the High Court settlement, which reduced his wealth to about £87 million, meant that he would get only 37 per cent of the total assets built up during the marriage.

They argued he should get more of the cash because of the "exceptional contribution he made in creating the wealth".

The case was so controversial Mr Justice Coleridge, who presided over the hearing at the High Court, indicated he would have liked a jury to help him decide an appropriate award.

Speaking from his home in Bermuda, Mr Charman said: "At no time has my ex-wife indicated why my offer of £20 million would not satisfy her personal needs. We lived together for 27 years. I knew what her normal spending would be. I bought her parents a house. I paid for all their medical care."

He said when he left England to live in Bermuda in 2003 he took just a suitcase and left behind his car. He added that the needs of their two adult sons are "more than appropriately taken care of for the rest of their natural lives", and that the family home in Sevenoaks is mortgage-free.

He also paid both sides' legal fees, amounting to just under £5 million.

The handling of two other big money divorce cases has been criticised for confusing divorce courts. In the cases, heard together at the House of Lords last May, Law Lords came down on the side of the former wives.

Melissa Miller kept the £5 million she was awarded out of her ex-husband Alan's £17.5 million fortune, and Julia McFarlane was entitled to £250,000 a year from her former husband Kenneth for life - not just the five years decided by the Court of Appeal.

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