Battle of ‘Towel Towers’
Hotel supplies tycoon in fight with son over £2m mansion
A TOWEL tycoon is suing his son in a tug-of-war over a £2 million mansion they both say belongs to them.
Michael Parker has already ‘ spent ruinously’ on a £2 million divorce fight with his former wife Barbara.
Now he is battling his son Thomas Parker-Bowyer, 30, in the High Court over a sevenbedroom spread in the Buckinghamshire village of Bourne End.
Mr Parker, 60, lived at the ranch-style home, valued at up to £2.65 million, until 2019 when it was signed over to his son.
But Mr Parker, who sold luxury towels to top hotels such as The Dorchester in London, claims he signed the house over only on the basis that he had a right to control it during his lifetime.
Mr Parker-Bowyer, who wants to sell the house, says his father ‘gifted’ it to him in return for paying off the mortgage.
Mr Parker was a property developer before uniting with then-wife Barbara in supplying towels sourced from Turkey.
The disputed mansion is in two acres of land and has eight bathrooms, a cinema and a swimming pool with adjustable floor height, plus a gym and a bar. The court in London heard the clash centres on a deal between father and son in 2019 after Mr Parker moved to his other house Babs Park, named after ex-wife Barbara Cooke.
Mr Parker admits he transferred the house to his son. ‘But the idea was that Mr Parker would have continuing use and occupation of the property,’ said his barrister Gavin McLeod, with Mr Parker also aiming to ultimately reduce his estate’s inheritance tax liabilities.
But Mr Parker-Bowyer, who once worked with his dad, insists he simply agreed to buy his father out of the property as he was so heavily mortgaged he risked foreclosure.
Mr Parker-Bowyer’s barrister Piers Digby said he used £200,000 savings and a £1.2 million mortgage to pay off his father’s mortgage, with his father gifting him the remaining equity.
Mr Parker is suing his son on the basis that a ‘constructive trust’ was created by the 2019 transfer, giving him the right to a life interest in the disputed property.
Yesterday Deputy Master John Linwood refused to dismiss Mr Parker’s claim, saying the evidence should be heard at a full trial.
Mr Parker previously made headlines over his divorce battle with Barbara Cooke and an insurance claim. In a hearing over the latter, a judge found that on the balance of probabilities he had arranged for an arson attack on Ms Cooke’s former home in Farnham Royal, near Windsor, in a failed scam.
Dismissing the insurance claim over the blaze back in 2012, Mr Justice Teare said: ‘There is no credible explanation for the fire on the evidence other than it was set by persons on the direction of Mr Parker.’
When the divorce case came before the High Court in 2018, Mr Justice Cohen said that Mr Parker had ‘wantonly blown’ £918,000 in legal costs on the fire damage claim, adding: ‘Thus, in total, the husband and wife have spent over £3 million in costs on litigation they have initiated.’ In the divorce, Mr Parker agreed ‘through gritted teeth’ to surrender 50 per cent of company shares to her. She was ordered to pay him £800,000.