£7m City woman fights to stop her cheating ex getting half of fortune
‘Didn’t see her as a cash machine’
A FORMER City trader who made millions in bonuses is challenging a divorce ruling which awarded her ex-husband almost half of her £7 million fortune.
As her earnings spiralled, Julie Sharp bought two houses in Gloucestershire and treated her husband Robin to an Aston Martin.
But the 44-year-old filed for divorce in December 2013 after discovering that her husband, 43, was having an affair.
In November 2015, a High Court judge awarded Mr Sharp a £2.7 million payout from the couple’s assets of £6.9 million, almost all of which came from his former wife. Mrs Sharp, a maths graduate, is now appealing against the decision, demanding that the payout be cut to £1.2 million.
The Civil Appeal Court heard that the couple, who have no children, set up home in 2007 and married two years later.
Mrs Sharp earned £135,000-ayear as a trader in the coal industry and also collected a bonus of more than a million each year.
Her husband earned £90,000 as an IT consultant before he quit in 2012 to renovate their £2 million six-bedroom house on two acres of land in Shurdington, near Cheltenham.
At the end of the original divorce case, High Court Judge Sir Peter Singer awarded Mr Sharp £2,737,000. He said the ‘principled outcome’ was that the husband should receive half of the couple’s assets.
Mrs Sharp’s lawyer Frank Feehan QC told the Court of Appeal last week that Sir Peter’s ruling was ‘wrong in principle’. He added: ‘ The notion that equal sharing applied in this case made for an unprincipled decision. Because this was a short marriage he should not get half of the matrimonial pot.’
Mr Feehan said the pair took turns to pick up the bill when dining out and Mr Sharp accepted that the ‘ bonuses were not his’. Mr Sharp ‘went out of his way to explain that he did not see her as a sort of cash machine’, the QC added.
Mrs Sharp bought ‘expensive gifts’ for her husband including the Aston Martin – described by Mr Feehan as a ‘very lavish boy’s toy which she was happy to give out of love’.
He said the offer of £ 1.2 million would ‘comfortably’ meet Mr Sharp’s needs.
Jonathan Southgate QC, acting for Mr Sharp, said there was enough evidence of the couple’s intentions to pool their resources. He said: ‘ They agreed he should take redundancy and stay at home – redeveloping their home and supporting their joint life together.’ Lord Justice McFarlane, Lord Justice McCombe and Lord Justice David Richards are now reviewing the evidence.