A businesswoman who gave up her career to become a 'conventional housewife' has been awarded the whole of the fortune she formerly shared with her software tycoon ex-husband.

Peter and Jane Morris lived beyond their means during their 25-year marriage, buying a £1.2million cottage in the Chilterns and sending their children to an expensive public school.

After they split they continued their lavish spending - Mr Morris, 51, took six holidays within a space of nine months, while his ex-wife spent £5,000 on her own birthday party.

However, a judge has ruled that Mrs Morris, 52, should be awarded all of the couple's £560,000 wealth, leaving her husband with nothing.

Battle: Jane and Peter Morris have been locked in a bitter divorce fight since they split in 2013

A divorce court heard that the couple had a 'high standard of living', but their extravagance had reduced their fortune from several millions of pounds.

They enjoyed a quarter of a century of married bliss in their four-bedroom detached house in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, while their two younger children boarded at a £30,000-a-year school.

Mrs Morris, who was a 'competent and effective operator' during her pre-marriage career, 'stayed at home to look after the home and care for the children by agreement with her husband', judge Glen Brasse said at a hearing last year.

Mr Morris, the managing director of a software company who earned up to £240,000 a year, was said to have 'considerable business acumen'.

The judge added: 'The wife and family have relied on him considerably in the past for his expertise in producing a good standard of living for them.'

Home: The couple lived in this £1.2million house in Princes Risborough in the Chilterns

The couple enjoyed 'expensive holidays' and showed 'exceptional generosity' in lavishing gifts of cars, holidays, horses and expensive birthday parties on themselves and their three children.

When their marriage fell apart and they split in 2013, their 'extravagant' spending continued unabated.

The husband's lifestyle in particular 'continued as a very affluent affair', with Mr Morris taking on six holidays in the space of nine months, while 'huge and pressing debts' mounted up.

Judge Brasse ruled that, due to their profligacy, they only had enough money left to meet the core housing and day-to-day needs of Mrs Morris and the children.

Ruling: Judge Glen Brasse awarded Mrs Morris almost all of the couple's £560,000 fortune

He handed almost half a million pounds to Mrs Morris, giving the husband just £66,000.

Mr Morris was also ordered to fork out £77,000 for unpaid maintenance and other debts - effectively leaving him with none of the money that the couple formerly shared.

Mr Morris hit out at his ex-wife, pointing out that she spent £5,000 on a 50th birthday party for herself, and argued that she should have been able to earn more in the wake of the divorce.

But Mrs Morris was ruled to be 'a sensible woman' who was 'probably in need of emotional and psychological comfort' during her own spending sprees.

Judge Brasse at the Central London Family Court admitted he had made a 'substantial departure from authority' in handing 90 per cent of the family assets to a stay-at-home wife.

But he said Mrs Morris 'needs adequate maintenance' because sacrificing her career had left her with a 'low earning capacity... in her middle fifties with rusty skills.'

He concluded that the couple would have to live a more modest lifestyle in future, saying: 'It is self-evident that not all the needs of the parties could possibly be met in full, or even substantially, from the available resources so the parties' expectations have to be scaled down.

'Some of their needs will have to be prioritised over others. The priority must be given in my judgement to the housing of the wife and children.'

Mr Morris refused to pay the maintenance funds, leading to Judge Judith Hughes imposing a suspended prison sentence on him at a later hearing.

'The husband has had the money to pay the maintenance but has failed to prioritise it and has spent sums instead on himself and his enjoyment,' she said.

Mr Morris has now taken his case to the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn both the suspended sentence and Judge Brasse's initial division of the family's wealth.

An appeal hearing today was postponed when Mr Morris attempted to represent himself and Lady Justice Black ruled that he should be given a legal aid-funded barrister because of the severity of the case.