An unemployed female law graduate has won half of the £1.7m home she lived in with her ex-girlfriend after arguing she played the role of a "housewife" in the relationship.

Shree Ladwa, 43, was gifted expensive jewellery and hundreds of thousands in cash during a 16-year relationship with her businesswoman ex, Beverley Chapman, 46.

Ms Chapman worked to fund their luxury lifestyle, paying off the mortgage, buying her an Aston Martin for her birthday and proposing with a diamond ring on a Monte Carlo clifftop.

But the "tempestuous" relationship foundered, leading to a bitter county court battle over their £1.7m former home near Chingford, Essex, as she accused Ms Ladwa of never doing a "proper day's work".

Ms Ladwa, meanwhile, claimed she was entitled to half the property, like any other "housewife" in a traditional "divorce" battle. That was their intention all along, she said.

Arguing that Ms Ladwa should get nothing, Ms Chapman complained she was used as a "cash cow" by her ex, who had pressured her into putting the house in joint names.