Elderly couple landed with £500k court bill after losing claim against Goldman Sachs banker
"An elderly couple who accused their banker landlord of a money-driven bid to evict them from their home of 50 years have been handed a £500,000 court bill - after a judge found they moved out in the 1960s.
Robert Clarke, 81, and wife Cherry, 72, said ex-Goldman Sachs financier Hugues Lepic was only interested in the cash he could make by kicking them out of their mews home in an expensive part of Chelsea.
But the couple are now facing a huge bill for back rent and lawyers' fees after a judge found they had actually "decamped" from the home, yards from the multi-millionaire's £10 million mansion, in 1968.
Vindicating Mr Lepic, Judge Nigel Gerald said the couple had moved to a cottage in Surrey after their first child was born and Mrs Clarke was pregnant with their second.
Retired solicitor Mr Clarke, who claimed to have a protected tenancy, had "deliberately chosen not to come to court and give evidence so as to avoid having to tell the truth", said the judge.
And his wife had made a "series of dishonest and untruthful statements" in court to back up his claim to be a protected tenant, he continued. "
Source: Elderly couple landed with £500k court bill after losing claim against Goldman Sachs banker - Telegraph
"An elderly couple who accused their banker landlord of a money-driven bid to evict them from their home of 50 years have been handed a £500,000 court bill - after a judge found they moved out in the 1960s.
Robert Clarke, 81, and wife Cherry, 72, said ex-Goldman Sachs financier Hugues Lepic was only interested in the cash he could make by kicking them out of their mews home in an expensive part of Chelsea.
But the couple are now facing a huge bill for back rent and lawyers' fees after a judge found they had actually "decamped" from the home, yards from the multi-millionaire's £10 million mansion, in 1968.
Vindicating Mr Lepic, Judge Nigel Gerald said the couple had moved to a cottage in Surrey after their first child was born and Mrs Clarke was pregnant with their second.
Retired solicitor Mr Clarke, who claimed to have a protected tenancy, had "deliberately chosen not to come to court and give evidence so as to avoid having to tell the truth", said the judge.
And his wife had made a "series of dishonest and untruthful statements" in court to back up his claim to be a protected tenant, he continued. "
Source: Elderly couple landed with £500k court bill after losing claim against Goldman Sachs banker - Telegraph
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