Divorce battle ends in €24m award

One of Britain’s longest and most bitter divorce battles culminated yesterday with a High Court judge branding a well-connected millionaire a liar and his ex-wife a conspiracy theorist.

Far from being “penniless and hopelessly bankrupt”, as he had claimed, Scot Young, 51, was worth £40m (€48m) and his estranged wife Michelle Young, 49, should get half of it, judge Philip Moor ruled.

“This case has been quite extraordinary even by the standards of the most bitter of matrimonial breakdowns,” Moor wrote in his ruling, noting that it had taken over six years and 65 court hearings to come to trial.