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Millionaire’s ex-wife jailed, after defying court order to leave her home (3 August 2015)

Date: 03/08/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Millionaire’s ex-wife jailed, after defying court order to leave her home

A millionaire’s ex-wife has been jailed, after she defied a court order to leave her home so that it could be sold as part of a clean break divorce settlement.

Theresa St Clair Marshall, 43, from Bayswater in west London refused to leave her £2 million mews house after a court ordered that the house be sold – and the proceeds divided between her and her millionaire ex-husband Nick Marshall in a clean break settlement.

Mrs Marshall would have received £650,000 as a result of the 2013 judgment – but instead of leaving the property, it is reported Mrs Marshall turned her home into a fortress, refused to hand over keys to estate agents – and dared a judge to jail her instead.

In November 2014, she was found guilty of contempt of court after ignoring the ruling. Mrs Marshall was given a seven-day jail sentence, pending an appeal.

However, in July she lost her case at the Appeal Court and was arrested on Wednesday (29/07/15), after bailiffs forced their way into her house in Caroline Place Mews in Bayswater.

Mrs Marshall was taken to Holloway Prison and her dog was removed from the property and taken to kennels.

After the eviction, the locks on the house were changed to enable the property to be sold.

It is reported Mrs Marshall phoned a friend on her way to HMP Holloway and sounded “numb”.

“She’s a person who has been absolutely taken to the limits of grief and despair,” said 67-year-old Constantia Phoca.

“I said, ‘What’s going to happen to you?’ She said, ‘I don’t care.’ She knew prison was a possibility – but had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. It’s such a tragic end.

“When they moved here, they were very much in love.”

The couple were separated in 2012 after seven years of marriage.

Mr Marshall moved back to his parents’ home in Yorkshire, where a divorce hearing was held in 2013.

Mrs Marshall said that she was not able to attend the hearing from London because her funds had been “cut off” and she could not afford to travel to Yorkshire.

She said she had given up her work to support her sales director husband – who had continued to pay the mortgage and outgoings on the mews house.

She had told the Evening Standard that she would not give up her fight because “I think my husband should offer me a settlement which is fair”.

A neighbour of Mrs Marshall said that bailiffs spent “a long time” talking to her as she stood at the window of the house.

“A guy was working on the lock and he forced it and the bailiffs went in,” said the neighbour.

“It wasn’t long until she came out and she was put into a people carrier.

“Her dog was taken away to kennels in a separate van.

“She seemed calm – she wasn’t hysterical,” the neighbour added.

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