Like a plot from one of his own novels... Ken Follett sued for sexism by his daughter-in-law
‘The row stems from a messy marriage’
Ken Follett is being sued for alleged sex discrimination by his daughter-in-law, who claims she was unfairly dismissed from the family business.
Like a plot from one of his novels exploring family conflict, Mr Follett, 69, and his wife Barbara, a former Labour minister, are in a legal battle with solicitor Caroline Follett, 51.
She was married to the multi-millionaire author’s son, rock musician emanuele. They had split up before he died from leukaemia at the age of 49 last year.
She has lodged proceedings at an employment tribunal alleging discrimination on the grounds of ‘sex, marriage or transgender’ and disability. She also claims breach of contract and unfair dismissal.
A source described the dispute as ‘tragic’ and said it stemmed from Caroline’s ‘messy’ marriage to emanuele.
An initial public hearing at the Central London employment Tribunal was quickly declared ‘private’ when a reporter entered the room. The case was then adjourned.
Documents from the employment case set out how Caroline is taking action against Ken and Barbara who operated as a business with the late emanuele called BeK Partnership. The business is linked to The Joint, a six-room music rehearsal studio in London used by chart-topping stars such as Adele, Coldplay and Van Morrison that was run by emanuele.
emanuele was in a relationship with another woman, Kate Alliott, at the time of his death. His mother is Ken Follett’s first wife Mary. Mr Follett was previously a director of the company that owns the studio, with half of the company’s shares now owned by emanuele’s estate.
Welsh-born former journalist Mr Follett, whose thrillers and historical novels include The Pillars of the earth and eye of the needle, is worth an estimated £50million after chalking up global sales of more than 160million books. His second wife Barbara, 76, who was forced to pay back more than £42,000 as part of the Westminster expenses scandal, declared owning shares in BeK Partnership during her time in Parliament.
The partnership is behind Waterwynch House, an 11-bedroom property set in a 26-acre valley on the Pembrokeshire coastline. However, it is understood that Caroline and emanuele’s names are on the deeds. The mansion was purchased in 2012 for £1.8million by the couple after Caroline closed her London law firm.
The property, which is available to hire for up to £13,950-a-week and was once the home of Lord and Lady Ridsdale, is billed as a ‘ holistic escape’. It is currently used as a base for women- only retreats jointly run by Welsh singer Charlotte Church. It was previously described online as fulfilling ‘Caroline’s dream to share the beauty and essence of the natural world as part of the physical, mental and spiritual healing so many of us need’. A post on its website said: ‘Caroline retired as a lawyer and closed her law firm in Central London to focus on Waterwynch.
‘In her quest for self-knowledge, she has first-hand experience of a very diverse range of holistic practices and approaches to the treatment of mental health issues.’
The mansion was recently put up for sale for £2.5million. Caroline was previously listed as the property’s ‘project and estate manager’ but stood down as a director of its management company in January last year.
She owns half of the shares in the company, while emanuele’s halfshare was allocated to his mother Mary after his death. The names of Caroline and emanuele are also still on the deeds of their £1.6million loft apartment home in Clerkenwell, London. Ken and Barbara Follett, who married in 1985, did not respond to requests for comment. He used to sing and play guitar with emanuele in the band Damn Right I Got The Blues.
Caroline also declined to comment. Locals in the seaside resort of Tenby said Caroline was no longer thought to live at Waterwynch House. One explained: ‘Caroline ran it – it was more her business but her husband was there in the early days. The place is still open and advertising its rooms for £3,000 for a three-night weekend stay.’