Judge tells ‘hobby’ divorce couple to throw in the towel

A JUDGE has attacked a millionaire couple who are divorcing, telling them they have treated their court battles as “a hobby” and spent “crazy” amounts of money on lawyers.

The estranged couple, who run a firm that supplies towels and bathrobes to top hotels and spas, have angered Mr Justice Holman over the spiralling cost of their legal fees during divorce proceedings at the High Court in London.

The judge said Barbara Cooke, 57, and Michael Parker, 54, had run up bills of around £1.5million while arguing over assets worth about £10million. He said the legal costs were out of all proportion.

Suggesting that the couple negotiate outside court, Mr Justice Holman said the assets of Ms Cooke and Mr Parker – both directors of BC Softwear, based in High Wycombe, Bucks – were not in the £100million bracket. He said they had already spent at least 15 per cent of their combined wealth.

The judge raised his concern while considering pre-trial issues at a public hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. “I have come across litigation that loses all sense of cost proportionality,” he said. “But I have rarely come across it on this scale...this is crazy.”

Mr Justice Holman said he could not stop people fighting in court if litigation was their “hobby”, but if the “war” continued there might be no money left. And he warned them: “It won’t be Maseratis [then] will it? It will be a beaten up old Ford if you’re lucky.

“Ultimately people can just litigate to the end and bankrupt themselves.”

The estranged couple’s company website promotes BC Softwear as a supplier of luxury bathrobes and towels “for the best hotels, luxury spas and laundries across the UK and Europe”.

It claims its towels “are designed specifically for the most discerning customers” and says its clients include Chewton Glen hotel in Hampshire, Dolphin Square Spa in London, The Dorchester, Pennyhill Park hotel in Surrey and Fairmont St Andrews Hotel & Spa, to name just a few.

“We have an enviable reputation for the highest-quality towels and robes that stay softer and fluffier for longer than the average towelling product,” the website adds.