Wife demands £35,000 a month

London : A wife at the centre of a £400-million (Dh2.4 billion) divorce battle is demanding more than £35,000 a month from her estranged husband, it was revealed on Thursday.

Lawyers for Scot Young, 47, insist he is facing bankruptcy and has been living on £150-a-week handouts from friends.

But Michelle Young, 45, has previously claimed he has hidden his vast fortune in offshore bank accounts and property deals to avoid paying out a huge divorce settlement. The pair's bitter war of words was played out before the High Court as a judge was asked to rule on whether Scot should be ordered to pay maintenance to his wife.

The former model has received £1.2 million from him since they split in 2006, which his lawyer said had been paid by his wealthy friends.

Scot counts Topshop billionaire Sir Philip Green and Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky among his friends, and was once hailed as one of Britain's richest tycoons. But he claims his property empire collapsed during the credit crunch, after his wife filed for divorce, and that he is being pursued for £27 million in debts.

Lawyer David Balcombe QC, for Michelle, said: "If he really is on his uppers, if he is scrounging around on his pocket money of £150-a-week, why hasn't he gone out and got himself a job?"

— Guardian News & Media Ltd