The real life Basil and Sybil Fawlty!
Torquay hotel boss claims his wife attacked him but court clears her ... and she says he’s a bully
THERE was little love lost between Basil and Sybil as they ran their Torquay hotel in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers.
But the television couple’s squabbles pale in comparison to a real-life Devon hotelier’s tiff with his wife – which landed them in court.
Multi-millionaire Keith Richardson had accused his estranged wife Fiona of assaulting him during a discussion about their ongoing divorce, claiming she left him bloodied and in tears.
And although she has now been cleared of the crime, their evidence in court laid bare details of their heated dispute.
The pair married in 2011 but split last year and Mrs Richardson, 47, had travelled to his home in Coffinswell, Devon, to discuss a divorce settlement.
But Mr Richardson, 77 – who owns five luxury hotels in Devon and Cornwall, including the Grand Hotel in Torquay, and is worth around £ 40million – claimed the meeting turned violent after she complained she was being denied access to his wealth and accused him of adultery.
The tycoon said Mrs Richardson hit him ‘six or seven times’ during the row on December 3, causing his glasses to cut the bridge of his nose, and claimed she even threatened to kill him.
Mr Richardson told Torquay Magistrates’ Court: ‘I was on the couch and she was sat on the chair about ten feet away. She started shouting at me saying she had no money and I hadn’t set up a standing order for her.
‘She said I was an adulterer. She was really bad tempered. I was just sitting there nonplussed. Then she said “I’m going to kill you” and came at me and started beating me about the head. I put my head down and she just came at me rapidly. I certainly wasn’t expecting her to lash out at me. I felt some blood coming down my face from a cut on my nose.’
Police said when they arrived they saw he had been crying.
But Mrs Richardson, who denied assault, said she only pushed her husband, whom she called a ‘cruel bully’, and that he fell and injured himself.
She said their marriage hit the rocks when she found an email showing he had been on holiday to the US with another woman.
And she told magistrates their meeting turned sour after she received a message from her solicitors while at his home saying there was no agreement about the cost of divorce lawyers.
Mrs Richardson said: ‘I fell to my knees in front of him and begged him, “I can’t believe what you are doing”. He just lent over and began shouting, “I’m doing what the lawyers told me. I’m rich and I’ll do what I like”.
‘He was a bully. He was sort of gloating. I begged him not to. I called him an adulterer. I was on my knees. He was in my face shouting at me.
‘You don’t know what he’s like. He’s cruel to me and a bully. I needed to get him out of my face and pushed him.’
Magistrates could not decide between the two conflicting accounts and found Mrs Richardson, of Kingskerswell in Devon, not guilty since no independent witnesses had been present.
Afterwards she said: ‘I am just relieved it is all over. It was a complete waste of court time but was extremely stressful for me.’
The couple are still finalising their divorce.
It was not the first time Mr Richardson has been in court. He was convicted last year of injuring a 16-year-old girl by flying his helicopter dangerously, causing a gust of wind to hurl a parasol into her.
In 2010 he sued his own son to get back a share of £5.1million, which Mr Richardson had made as a divorce payout to his first wife Harriet and which was passed on to the son after she died.
‘I’m rich and I’ll do what I like’