Millionaire broker wins £125,000-a-year maintenance appeal after private detective proves ex-wife was pregnant by another man

Lara Grey, pictured at an earlier hearing, will no longer receive a £125,000-a-year divorce payout after her ex-husband proved she was living with the lover who made her pregnant

A City broker who hired a private detective to prove his ex-wife was living with another man yesterday won his legal battle against paying her £125,000 a year in maintenance.



Richard Grey, 36, had been ordered by a High Court judge to provide for his ex-wife Lara until she remarried – even though she admitted she was pregnant with her lover's child during the divorce proceedings.



Mr Grey was also ordered to give her a £615,000 house and a lump sum of £454,158 as part of the settlement.

But the Court of Appeal yesterday branded the ruling 'erroneous' and ordered the judge to reassess payments to take into account the cash Mrs Grey's new lover could provide.



During divorce proceedings Mrs Grey admitted she was 17 weeks pregnant by Liam Thompson, a programme director for a group of radio stations. She has since had the baby.

The couple had moved out of the marital home but Mrs Grey denied she was living with Mr Thompson, saying he was 'not even a boyfriend'.



Mr Grey, who is worth more than £4million, hired a private detective to watch her new home.

His father John, who lives nearby, also collected evidence about her relationship.



Mr Grey's lawyers told the Appeal Court it was 'repugnant' that he should have to pay £120,000 a year to a household which included both Mr Thompson and his child by Mrs Grey.

Under UK law maintenance is usually paid until the party receiving the payments remarries. But it can be stopped or dramatically reduced if they set up home with a new lover.

Mr Grey and his 35-year-old ex-wife, who have an eight-year-old daughter, met in Dublin and moved to London in their 20s when he secured a well-paid broking job.



Richard Grey: The broker, who is worth more than £4million, hired a private detective to watch her new home

After the marriage broke down in 2005 they both moved out of their home in St John's Wood, north-west London .

Mr Grey, who earns £750,000a year with broker ICAP, stayed in London while his wife moved to an affluent suburb of Dublin , a few doors away from her former in-laws.

In a High Court hearing, Mr Justice Singer refused to cut Mr Grey's maintenance bill, although he accepted that his ex-wife had been 'in a relationship' with another man.

He said there was 'no cut-and-dried test' for cohabiting and Mrs Grey was entitled to maintenance in full until she remarried.

But Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lords Justices Wall and Patten, ruled yesterday that the judge had should have 'attached significant weight to the new relationship and investigated its financial consequences fully'.