Earl of Cardigan’s lawyer quits in latest storm to hit troubled country estate
circumstances. His resignation marks another chapter in the frequently turbulent affairs of the Earl, whose ancestors include the general who led the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade.
At the same time as Mr Weil standing down, another trustee, Wilson Cotton, has also resigned from his role at the Savernake Estate.
Mr Weil remained circumspect last night, saying only: “I do not want to say any more thank you very much. My resignation was part of an agreed settlement with Lord Cardigan. It was part of an agreed court order.”
However, it is understood that his resignation is linked to a legal dispute between Mr Weil and Mr Cotton and Lord Cardigan over a property in his grounds rented by the pop star Pete Doherty. Lord Cardigan last year sued Mr Cotton for thousands of pounds in lost rent on Sturmy House following repairs needed when Doherty left the £1 million property “uninhabitable”.
Damage caused by the Babyshambles and Libertines singer – whose riotous lifestyle made him a cult figure on the British pop scene – included broken windows, graffiti on walls and cats running wild among its nine bedrooms.
The damage cost Lord Cardigan’s insurers £65,000 to repair and almost as much in lost rent after it lay empty following Doherty’s departure in 2010. Mr Cotton has now also stepped down as a trustee of the estate but, according to Mr Weil, retains some involvement in the Earl’s affairs. “We both stepped down as trustees of the estate but he remains a trustee of a remaining settlement,” said Mr Weil.
Lord Cardigan had also sued Mr Cotton over the £376,768 fees he charged, calling them excessive. Relations between the two men became so strained that in 2011 Lord Cardigan was accused of sabotaging a commercial pheasant shoot on his estate by destroying stands and “running a dog through the cover so as to disperse the birds”. This led the shooting syndicate, which had paid £52,000 a year in fees, to turn its back on Savernake.
The Earl – described as “abrasive” in court papers – had earlier succeeded in having Mr Moore removed as a trustee after legal action in 2014. A trial judge at the time said: “Mr Moore has had to put up with a great deal of unpleasantness despite the amount of time he has devoted to the estate.”
The judge thought Mr Moore should be removed due to the breakdown in relations between him and Lord Cardigan. He wrote: “The lion’s share of responsibility for that breakdown ought, I think, to be laid at Lord Cardigan’s door (and that of Mr Bloom) [Lord Cardigan’s legal adviser].”
The Earl, whose title dates back to 1611, has repeatedly experienced financial problems. He has run up legal costs of more than £600,000 and paid his first wife more than £900,000 in a divorce settlement. By 2013, the Savernake Estate had run up debts of £1.8 million. He has also fallen out with other family members, most spectacularly his daughter, Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce. The Earl was accused of sending her abusive emails. She obtained a restraining order banning him from attending his first wife’s funeral in 2012.
Mr Weil is a senior partner with London solicitors Bircham Dyson Bell. Among his “career highlights” mentioned on the firm’s website is “resolving a bitter family dispute arising out of the estate of a millionairess”. Savernake Estate had debts of £1.8 million by 2013 and its owner, the Earl of Cardigan, has fallen out with trustees and relations