Ex-wife killer loses £5m family ruling appeals

A MAN who murdered his ex-wife has lost appeals over a £5m ruling in favour of her sister and two of his sons.

Millionaire car dealer Ian Workman, 63, was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 17 and a half years, at Preston Crown Court in December 2011. At the time he stabbed 55-year-old Susan, his wife of 35 years, in April 2011, they were involved in ongoing financial proceedings following their divorce.

Mrs Workman’s sister, Carol Forrester, together with two of the estranged couple’s sons, Nicholas and Benjamin Workman, brought a damages claim against Workman.

In law, someone who is criminally responsible for the death of another cannot benefit from it and Mrs Workman’s family claimed that this rule should also apply in the financial proceedings.

They said that Workman, of Turton, Lancashire, should not be able to avoid what they contended was the highly likely outcome of a £5m award in his ex-wife’s favour.

Decisions given in the High Court in 2014 resulted in the entry of a default judgment against Workman in favour of Mrs Forrester and the two sons in the sum of £5m plus interest and costs.

Workman went to the Court of Appeal to challenge two orders.

One required him to disclose his assets and, in default, debarred him from defending the value of the claim while the other rejected his bid for a re-listing of an application to “freeze” his assets.

Dismissing both challenges yesterday, the Court of Appeal said there had been a “persistent failure” by Workman to comply with the disclosure order.