After losing her court case, a lawyer who insisted she was the “heiress” to a former ambassador‘s rural estate now faces a legal bill of more than £1 million.
Judge Leigh White, 56, instructed her to vacate grade I-listed Wotton House, close to Aylesbury, by Friday.
The wealthy David Gladstone, 87, accused her of squatting in his family’s wealth despite her claims that she had the “right to stay.”
After he successfully sued her, she now has to pay his legal fees because she was denied a grace period of one month before packing her things.
After refusing to vacate a millionaire’s mansion, a woman will have to pay £1,000,000 in court fees.
Ms White moved into the stately home in 2017 after the death of Mr Gladstone’s son. She claimed she had been treated as a ‘surrogate daughter’ by the former high commissioner to Sri Lanka – and that he must have forgotten earlier promises that she would inherit his £20million estate.
But the High Court heard Mr Gladstone was ‘desperate to spend what remains of his life’ at Wotton having moved to Cumbria to shield from Covid with wife Mary in 2020.
The diplomat met Ms White 30 years ago when he was married to his first wife and their friendship blossomed due to a shared passion for classical music and theatre. She became part of the couple’s inner circle and managed Wotton House after his wife died.
However, after the pandemic the pair had a falling out and he asked Ms White to leave the house.
She claimed she had sacrificed a high-flying law career to look after the property and had enjoyed a ‘close personal bond of love and affection’ with Mr Gladstone.
After rejecting Ms White’s case earlier this month, Mr Justice Trower returned to court to refuse a request by her lawyers that she be allowed to delay her departure by a month. He also ordered her to pay £725,000 up front towards Mr Gladstone’s costs, which are likely to exceed £1million.
Her own costs were estimated at £350,000 even before the case came to court.