Richard Wilmot's ex-wife begs judge to end divorce battle
Captain Richard Wilmot (pictured outside London's Appeal Court) and his third wife, Viki Maughan, have been fighting over money ever since they split in 2001
The ex-wife of an airline pilot has begged a court to end Britain's longest divorce battle and force her former husband to pay maintenance for the daughter he has denied is his since their split in 2001.
Four-times married former British Airways captain, Richard Wilmot, and his third wife, Viki Maughan, have been fighting over money ever since their divorce, in a case that a judge said 'beggars belief.'
Captain Wilmot, 62, who now lives in Somerset, claims his ex is 'a liar' and says that her 18-year-old daughter was fathered, not by him, but by a lover she was secretly seeing before they divorced.
He is refusing to comply with a financial settlement reached w ith his ex 16 years ago and denies he is liable for almost two decades worth of maintenance for the teenager, as he is 'absolutely convinced' she is not his, London's Appeal Court heard.
He also denies 'playing technical games' to avoid his responsibilities for the girl, and insists he has simply been trying to protect his new wife, his fourth, 'from the wreckage of the past.'
But Ms Maughan, 50, is demanding that her ex must 'accept reality' and is asking judges to bring an end to what has become Britain's longest running divorce battle.
Lady Justice Black, Lord Justice Sales and Lord Justice Moylan heard that the former couple lived in idylic £800,000 country pile, Hartley Oast, in Cranbrook, Kent, before they separated in the late 1990s.
Captain Wilmot, who now flies for Turkish Airlines, has since remarried and set his new family up in another swa nky £800,000 country home in Alcombe, Somerset.
He also owns a £500,000 18th century, listed house in Dunster, Somerset, and has property in Kirkmichael, on the Isle of Man.
Captain Wilmot says he has paid £390,000 in maintenance since the marriage ended and that he does not owe a penny more.
Captain Wilmot, 62, claims his ex Viki Maughan (pictured outside court) is 'a liar' and that her 18-year-old daughter was fathered by a lover she was secretly seeing before they divorced
He has been arguing for years that the divorce settlement was 'obtained by fraud on the part of Ms Maughan.'
And he now wants the Appeal Court to block Ms Maughan's bid to enforce the 2001 settlement and make him pay maintenance for her daughter.
The pilot claims the girl's birth certificate is a 'fabrication and a forgery' and denies the validity of a DNA test in 2000 which concluded she was his daughter.
He insists that fresh evidence shows that test was flawed.
Captain Wilmot is seeking to torpedo his ex's back-dated child maintenance bid, claiming that he has not been properly served with a str ing of court orders telling him to pay up, because he was flying.
He says 'slow internet and an inability to download documents' whilst he was working abroad meant he never received a series of court orders requiring him to pay up what his ex says he owes his former family.
Captain Wilmot, who now flies for Turkish Airlines, has since remarried and set his new family up in another swanky £800,000 country home (pictured) in Alcombe, Somerset
The wife's lawyers today slammed him for 'playing technical games' with the court.
But, denying the accusation, Nicholas Bowen QC, for Captain Wilmot, told the court: 'He only comes back to the UK for a few weekends a year. He is based in the air, all over the world.'
He was unwilling to receive documents at his Somerset family home because he didn't want his new life to be affected by the rancour between him and his previous family, the barrister added.
'He didn't want to be pursued by this ghastly case. He wanted his new wife to be insulated from the wreckage of the past.
'He therefore told his wife that if anyth ing turns up (from the ex-wife's lawyers) at Alcombe, just send it back,' he told the court.
The pilot (pictured) claims the girl's birth certificate is a 'fabrication and a forgery' and denies the validity of a DNA test in 2000 which concluded she was his daughter
As a result, legal service of the vital documents and orders was 'never effected as a matter of fact,' the QC added.
'He is not evading service, he is not playing technical games,' Mr Bowen told the court.
The QC added that Captain Wilmot had been wrongly painted as 'a recalcitrant, evasive and deliberate non-payer of child maintenance.'
But Jonathan Swift, for the wife, told the judges that she just wants the money her family is owed, and to be able to get on with her life.
'Her sincere wish is that this court should dispose of this matter with as many restraining directions as possible, so that it may never be resurrected again,' he said.
The barrister bemoaned 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.'
The former couple lived in idylic £800,000 country pile, Hartley Oast (pictured), in Cranbrook, Kent, before they separated in the late 1990s
Slamming the husband for dragging out the bitter fight for 16 years, he added: 'This is a pointless waste of time.
'A significant air of reality needs to descend in this case,' he told the judges.
He dismissed Captain Wilmot's case as 'utter nonsense.'
At a previous hearing, Mr Swift refuted Captain Wilmot's denial that he is the teenager's father, saying: 'The conclusion of the court was that she most certainly was his child.'
At the same hearing Mr Bowen told a judge that Captain Wilmot had been warned that 'this case could bankrupt you.'
'This is an extremely troubling case with severe financial consequence s for the husband and his (new) young family,' the QC added.
The judges have now reserved their decision on Captain Wilmot's appeal until a later date. Â
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