'Grotesque' £1.5m divorce costs

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A judge has criticised the "grotesque waste of family resources" by a couple who have spent £1.5m in lawyers' fees on their divorce battle.

The only decision made so far in the fight between Jim and Kim Moore over their £135m fortune is that the case should be heard in London.

Mr Moore, 46, boss of property firm Inside Track, wanted the dispute to be heard in Spain, where he lives.

Mrs Moore, 44, lives in Thames Ditton, Surrey with their three children.

The couple, who married in 1998, moved to Spain in 2003 and separated in December that year.

An extraordinary feature of the present case is the parties have spent about £1.5m in legal fees Lord Justice Thorpe

The Spanish courts granted their divorce and Mr Moore offered his ex-wife £6m plus a portfolio of properties in Spain.

She turned it down and successfully applied to the High Court for the fight over their marital assets to be heard in the UK.

Mr Moore lost an appeal against the ruling last month.

Giving their reasons for the decision on Friday, three judges said the couple were "seemingly very rich" and had emigrated for tax reasons.

"An extraordinary feature of the present case is the parties have spent about £1.5m in legal fees," said Lord Justice Thorpe.

"We do not know whether this lamentable and grotesque waste of family resources is the result of the intransigence of one of the parties or because the husband hopes that the Spanish court ... will misapply English law to his benefit."