Love cheat wins £120k payout over ban from weekend home
A TWO-TIMING millionaire caught in bed with another woman has won £120,000 compensation from his ex after she banned him from visiting their £1.6million weekend mansion with his new lover.
Dr Chris Rowland, 65, a former City analyst who once earned over £1million per year, bought sprawling nine-bedroom Tadmarton House, in Oxfordshire in March 2009, planning to use it as a weekend country retreat with his then partner, Sharon Blades, 60.
But in November that year, ecobusiness executive Ms Blades discovered Dr Rowland had taken up with another woman.
He carried on seeing both girlfriends for over a year until Ms Blades caught him in bed at his flat with her love rival in 2011.
A fracas resulted in Ms Blades accepting a police caution for “assaulting” the other woman.
Dr Rowland said Ms Blades had “vetoed” him and his new girlfriend from visiting the mansion.
Last year, the pair fought a court case over ownership of the “weekend bolthole”, with a top judge ruling that they were equal owners and it must be sold, with the proceeds split between them. But Dr Rowland also claimed a payout to compensate him for being “excluded” from his own mansion between 2009 and 2015.
He was awarded £59,958 for his lost access.
Then last month, Dr Rowland appealed the award to the High Court, asking Judge Milwyn Jarman QC to hike his compensation to what he claimed was the fairer figure of £216,199. Now Judge Jarman has allowed the appeal, awarding £120,000 to Dr Rowland, saying the veto had meant he lost the use of a “grand weekend and holiday home” for those years.
The judge rejected Ms Blades’ “cross-appeal”, which urged that her ex should only have been compensated to the tune of £36,000.