I flattened my dream home with a JCB rather than let my ex sell it off: Builder's revenge in dispute with partner over £200,000 loan ends in pile of rubble

Paul Lawton spent five years building dream home in Orkney, Scotland

But he wanted to prevent ex-lover Valerie Keith winning money wrangle

Decided to flatten six-bedroom house to avoid her profiting from his work

Keith launched legal action over Lawton's failure to repay a six-figure loan

Builder Paul Lawton spent five years building his dream home – but only five hours demolishing it with a JCB to prevent a former lover winning a bitter money wrangle.

Mr Lawton said flattening the imposing six-bedroom house on a remote Scots isle was preferable to seeing his former partner Valerie Keith profit from his hard work.

Three-times married Mr Lawton, 66, from Eday, Orkney, took the bizarre revenge after Miss Keith launched legal action to repossess the property and evict him over his failure to repay a six-figure loan after their relationship broke down.

From this: Builder Paul Lawton's imposing six-bedroom house as it once stood, on a remote Scots isle To this: Mr Lawton said flattening the house was preferable to seeing his ex-partner profit from his hard work

The great-grandfather decided to demolish the three-storey home, which has beautiful views over Eday Sound, after his ex refused to allow him time to sell the property for more money in a public auction.

When Miss Keith called in lawyers to recover her six-figure investment, a crushed Mr Lawton decided to flatten the house with the digger rather than hand it over.

Last night, he said: ‘I built the house to last forever and I had spent five years putting it up and strengthening it. I was upset [knocking it down] but I felt I was losing it anyway and I didn’t like being dictated to in that way.

‘It is sad my dream has ended this way. I wish to God I had never met Valerie. But there’s no point wasting emotion worrying over things that have happened.’

Mr Lawton, originally from Halifax, West Yorkshire, moved to Eday with his then wife, Jackie, in 2001 after falling in love with the island on a holiday.

They bought land and a one-bedroom cottage called Castles, complete with private beach.

They built another house with six bedrooms – intending to turn it into a family home plus B&B, but their marriage fell apart before it was finished and Mr Lawton faced losing the property in a divorce settlement.

In 2010, he met divorcee Miss Keith on online dating site Match.com and she agreed to loan him her life savings so he could pay off his wife and keep the property.

Mr Lawton said: ‘Valerie offered to lend me the money to pay Jackie off and just speed up the divorce, so we could sell the house at our own speed. The idea was to sell it and move on with our new life together, Val and I.’

He said he borrowed £202,000 from Miss Keith, secured against the cottage, the house and a small plot of land – together valued at a conservative £310,000.

The subsequent sale of a hangar-style shed netted £50,000 which he paid to Miss Keith, cutting his debt, including interest, to £170,000.

However, things started to go wrong with their relationship during a holiday to Spain a year ago.

Conflict: When Valerie Keith (right) called in lawyers to recover her six-figure investment, a crushed Paul Lawton (right) decided to flatten the house with the digger rather than hand it over



He said: ‘We went to Spain for three months in February because Valerie fancied buying a property and wanted to see what she could get, but we separated while we were there and she came home three weeks early.

‘We talked about our financial agreement and she said she would give me two months to sell the properties and if I couldn’t manage it, they would go to public auction with a reserve of £170,000 for all three properties, enough to cover the remainder of her loan.

‘But three days later, I got an email from her solicitor in Aberdeen saying they were starting repossession proceedings.’



Mr Lawton added: ‘I was upset about the way things went. It was not done out of rage; possibly hurt pride. That night, I knew I was going to lose the property.

'It is sad my dream has ended this way. I wish to God I had never met Valerie. But there’s no point wasting emotion worrying over things that have happened' Paul Lawton

‘Valerie said she had an offer for £170,000 from someone on Orkney looking to buy all three properties for just the £170,000 she was owed.

‘So basically, it felt they would all have been laughing at me behind my back. She had me by the short and curlies and I felt backed into a corner.

‘The proper way to have dealt with it would have been to put it to public auction. She would have got her money and I would have received some money too but Valerie wouldn’t let me do that.

‘It seemed very unfair. I decided that flattening the house was one way to do something about it.’

It took the former building contractor only five hours to reduce the property to rubble last August.

He went on: ‘I demolished the house at night, starting at midnight and finishing at five o’clock in the morning. There was no going back from that. I’ve lost everything. I’m facing bankruptcy shortly.

‘I had actually emptied the furniture and everything out of the cottage and was going to demolish the cottage as well, but at the last minute as I drove the machine up to the front door I thought, ‘No, that’s completely wrong’.

Choice: The great-grandfather decided to demolish the three-storey home, which has beautiful views over Eday Sound, after his ex refused to allow him time to sell the property for more money in a public auction

‘I didn’t want to ruin Val or take all her savings, I just wanted to let her know she couldn’t do what she was doing without having to pay a price.

‘She would still have the £95,000 that the cottage was worth and the £20,000 from the land and she would have the remains of the house and the two acres of land that comes with it.

‘The infrastructure is still there and all the services are in, so it would be a house you could sell for £50,000. So she would get most of her money back.’

Police were called in but as Mr Lawton was the sole name on the deeds for the property, Miss Keith was informed it was not being treated as a criminal matter.



Last night, Miss Keith declined to comment at her home in Aberdeenshire. A close friend said: ‘She felt sorry for him. She’s no mug – lawyers got involved and contracts were drawn up. She thought nothing could go wrong.’

'She's no mug – lawyers got involved and contracts were drawn up. She thought nothing could go wrong. Both of them have lost out because of his stupidity' Friend of Valerie Keith

The friend added: ‘He just drove the JCB right through the middle of the house. All the time, money and effort that had gone into it was wrecked out of spite. My friend felt sick when she was told.

‘She doesn’t expect to see a penny from that man. Both of them have lost out because of his stupidity.’

Mr Lawton, who moved into the cottage until November when it was repossessed, now lives in rented accommodation in Kirkwall and uses a caravan stored inside a friend’s hangar when he is on Eday.

He thinks he will have to go back to work to supplement his state pension, his only form of income, adding: ‘I’m in a bad financial situation now.’

Reflecting on his demolition job, he said: ‘It is quite extreme and I have never done anything like that before. If she had just stuck to our original agreement, all of this could have been avoided.’

Orkney Islands Council confirmed officials were called out to the property after concerns were raised that it had been flattened without a warrant for demolition.

Roddy Mackay, head of planning at Orkney Islands Council, said: ‘Building standards and planning enforcement officers visited Castles, Eday, last year to follow up on concerns about the site. We are not pursuing further action.’