A LOVE rat millionaire who was caught in bed with another woman has won £120k in compensation from his ex after she banned him from going to their £1.6m weekend home with his new partner.
Dr Chris Rowland purchased luxury mansion Tadmarton House, in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in 2009 and planned to use it as a love nest with his then girlfriend Sharon Blades.
But the financier, who once earned over £1million a year, was caught cheating on the eco-business executive with another woman.
Dr Rowland, 65, was then caught red handed by Ms Blades, 60, in bed with another woman at his flat in 2011.
She had already issued a “veto” on Dr Rowlands visiting their country home with his other lover.
Ms Blades accepted a police caution when she “assaulted” her love rival after discovering the pair together.
The court heard that the former couple had planned to use the 24-acre estate as a weekend bolthole – and Ms Blades claimed they spoke about retiring there.
But their dream came crashing down after she discovered that her boyfriend was seeing someone else in 2009.
Last year the former couple fought a bitter court battle over ownership of the mansion, which resulted in a top judge ruling that they are equal owners and it must be split between them.
But Dr Rowland also claimed that he should be given more compensation for being “excluded” from his own mansion between 2009 and 2015.
Initially he was granted £59,000 for his loss of access but appealed the amount, asking the court to increase the figure to £216,199.
During the initial court case Judge William Hansen, ruling on the ownership dispute in March, said Dr Rowland had carried on seeing both women after Ms Blades discovered his affair.
He told the court: “He then continued to see both for more than a year but in the early part of 2011, Ms Blades dropped in unexpectedly at his flat and found him in bed with his new partner.
“There was an altercation that resulted in Ms Blades accepting a police caution for assaulting the new partner and Dr Rowland accepting a restraining order preventing contact with either woman for weeks.”
Dr Rowland admitted carrying on seeing both women for several months and acknowledged he was “not proud of that fact”.
He added: “But I was emotionally attached to both women and each of them wanted me to choose between them, and I had real trouble making that choice.”
In March, Judge Hansen ruled against Dr Rowland, who had insisted that he exclusively owned Tadmarton House since he paid the full price out of his own pocket.
The judge said the couple has taken on the property as joint tenants, adding: “In one sense the outcome is a harsh one for Dr Rowland who contributed the whole of the purchase price in acquiring a country house to be used as a weekend and holiday retreat by a couple who each had their own properties and who never saw fit to pool their resources”.
During Dr Rowland’s appeal his solicitor argued that Dr Rowland was “effectively thrown out for the weekends”, and that Judge Hansen had wrongly assessed the loss he suffered.
But Ms Blades’ lawyers said her ex’s compensation should have been calculated on the basis of his “loss of enjoyment” of the weekend bolthole – rather than on its holiday rental value.
Judge Milwyn Jarman QC ruled that he had lost the use of a “grand weekend and holiday home” for those years.
Dr Rowland was then granted £120,000 in compensation by the court, after deciding the initial sum was insufficient.
Judge Jarman said: “Later in 2009, Dr Rowland formed a relationship with another person. After Ms Blades discovered this she told Dr Rowland that she did not want him to take his new partner to Tadmarton House.
“Dr Rowland agreed not to do so, and kept to his word. Ms Blades spent most weekends there during this period.
“In October 2015, Dr Rowland’s new relationship broke down and there was nothing thereafter to stop Dr Rowland also spending time there.
“In my judgment, Dr Rowland’s loss is the loss of a grand weekend and holiday home than rather than a holiday let.
“Many people stay somewhere else during the week for work purposes and return home for the weekend, and this is similar to what the parties intended when buying Tadmarton House.”
He awarded Dr Rowland £120,000 compensation and rejected Ms Blades’ “cross-appeal” which urged that her ex should only have been compensated to the tune of £36,000.
