Millionaire ex-British Airways captain risks losing his entire fortune in one of Britain’s longest ever divorce battles spanning 15 YEARS
Captain Wilmot denies his ex-wife Viki Maughan's daughter is his and says a paternity test he took was tampered with
A MILLIONAIRE airline captain risks losing his entire fortune in one of Britain's longest-ever divorce battles.
Four-times married Richard Michael Edmund Wilmot is locked in a "scandalous" fight with his third wife over payouts for a daughter he insists is not his.
British Airways captain Wilmot claims his ex Viki Maughan is "a liar" and says the child was fathered by a lover she was secretly seeing before they divorced.
Maughan vehemently denies his accusations and says DNA testing has conclusively proved Wilmot is the now-18-year-old's dad.
Furious Wilmot insists fresh evidence shows the test was flawed and says he has been paying out for a child who isn't his for nearly two decades.
Lawyers compared the case to Charles Dickens' Bleak House, but Captain Wilmot has fought on despite warnings his entire fortune could be swallowed by legal bills.
The ex-couple, who lived in an £800,000 mansion in Kent, separated in the late 1990s and have been at war over money ever since their divorce in 2001.
Lady Justice King "reluctantly" opened another chapter in the pair's saga, telling London's Appeal Court: "This is a scandalous case... the history beggars belief.
"The husband is now on his fourth wife and he has children from that marriage too. He is now using his pension fund to fight his third wife after 15 years."
Captain Wilmot owns a £500,000 listed house in Dunster, Somerset, has another home in Aldersmead, Somerset and a property on the Isle of Man.
Now flying for Turkish Airlines, the pilot was officially declared the teen's dad in 2000 and has paid out almost £400,000 to his former family.
However the furious ex claims his signature on the child's birth certificate was "false and fabricated" and says two samples of genetic material were switched before testing.
His barrister, Nicholas Bowen QC, told the court: "He says the girl isn't his child. He continues to deny it. He says new evidence had emerged the wife was a liar."
At a previous hearing Lord Justice Lloyd outlined Wilmot's allegation the 2001 divorce settlement was "obtained by fraud on the part of Ms Maughan".
He added: "In particular, he claims that she pretended...to be financially entirely dependent on him when in fact, he says, she was in a relationship with and financially supported by her new lover.
"Mr Wilmot has been contending for years that the paternity declaration in relation to this daughter was not reliable and should be set aside.
"He says two samples were switched...he has been contending that Ms Maughan has been lying and fabricating evidence and withholding material for years."
The Captain is now asking the Appeal Court to block his ex-wife's bid to enforce the settlement.
Bowen argued he was working in Turkey when orders were made against him and he had never been properly served with court papers.
Sending documents to him by email, when he was living outside the jurisdiction of the English courts, may not have complied with international law, he claimed.
Jonathan Swift, for Maughan, urged the judge to throw out Captain Wilmot's case, saying: "The conclusion of the court was that she most certainly was his child".
The barrister pointed to the "extreme facts of this case" and "the husband's refusal to comply with the court ordered obligations to his ex-wife and children stretching back as far as 2001."
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Captain Wilmot was slammed by Lady Justice King, who said: "He doesn't want to pay for this daughter does he?
"There has been a declaration of parentage. She is his child. That's the end of it.
"He can't go behind it. He is this girl's father.
"The husband has pursued this litigation, although the orders in place are about maintaining his three children, with quite extraordinary vigour for well over a decade.
"He now wishes to use his case for maintenance of his children for the argument of what is effectively a legal test case on a point of law."
Despite those words, Lady Justice King "reluctantly" granted Captain Wilmot permission to mount a full appeal.
She said: "I have with considerable hesitation and reluctance concluded that, notwithstanding the history of this matter, there is a compelling reason why this appeal should be heard."
Bowen told the judge that Captain Wilmot had been warned "this case could bankrupt you" and compared the dispute to Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Dickens' infamous court battle in Bleak House which saw all the money fought over ending up in lawyers' pockets.
The barrister told the judge that he still hoped that a "sensible settlement" could be achieved.
"This is an extremely troubling case with severe financial consequences for the husband and his young family," he added.
But the judge told Captain Wilmot: "You've had 15 years to settle it...I cannot help thinking how far the money spent on this case would go toward's the daughter's university fees."
The case will now go ahead to a hugely expensive three-day test case hearing before three senior judges, with both Captain Wilmot and his ex-wife represented by QCs.
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