Dotcom tycoon ordered to hand over £7m divorce pay-out by Appeal Court judge | Mail Online

By Daily Mail Reporter
A Polo-playing dot com tycoon was today ordered by an Appeal Court judge to hand over half his £14milion fortune to his ex-wife.

Robert Jennings, whose healthcare information website, Mediconsult.com, made him rich, applied to the Appeal Court to slash the £7million divorce payout claiming it left him facing millions of pounds of debt.

But Lord Justice Thorpe said there was no reason why the court should be ‘burdened’ with his complaints.
The Jennings’s stately Saddlewood Manor home is on the market for £4.5million

The Jennings’s stately Saddlewood Manor home is on the market for £4.5million

When High Court judge Mr Justice Charles awarded the cash to Sarah Jennings in March, he slammed her husband’s ‘flagrant, persistent and consistent’ failure to fully disclose the extent of his wealth and ordered that the assets to be divided between the couple were worth nearly £14million.

He split that sum down the middle, ordering Mr Jennings to pay his ex-wife £7million by September 1 this year. He was also told he must pay her over £200,000 ayear in maintenance until the money was handed over.

The Gloucestershire mansion, Saddlewood Manor in Leigherton, Tetbury, is currently being marketed by Mrs Jennings for £4.5million and she can keep whatever she gets from the sale, after the mortgage is paid off, as a down-payment on the £7million her ex-husband owes her.

Philip Moor QC, for Mr Jennings, told the Appeal Court the couple had enjoyed a millionaire lifestyle of polo ponies, dressage horses, a private plane, expensive school fees for their three sons, along with other ‘extravagant expenditure’.

They had, he said, burned their way through about US$10 million in ten years.

At the time the marriage was breaking down in 2007, the QC said, ”he worst recession for decades hit hard’ and wiped out much of the value of the couple’s shares and properties, including luxury homes in Spain and Canada.

He said the couple had been living ’significantly beyond their means’ and all that was left of their assets was now worth only around £4.3million, including the equity in Saddlewood Manor – a far cry from the £14million assessed by the judge.

He told the Appeal Court Mr Justice Charles had ‘erred’ in not rejecting Mrs Jennings’ case that her ex-husband had approximately £9.5million in ‘undisclosed’ assets.

Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lord Justice Elias, said of the £7million lump sum: ‘Of course it’s a stiff order’ – but went on to refuse Mr Jennings permission to appeal against it.

Describing it as what would generally be regarded as a ‘big money’ case’, he said the judge had found ‘flagrant, persistent and consistent’ failures on Mr Jennings’ part to comply with his duty of full and frank disclosure.

Arguments that the falling value of Saddlewood Manor – once valued at £4.9million – is having an unfair effect on Mr Jennings ‘did not even begin’ to justify a full Appeal Court hearing, he said.

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