Norman threatens wife with defamation of character

London: Greg Norman's 250-million pound divorce battle grew even more bitter as he threatened to sue his wife for defamation.

This week Laura Norman claimed the golfer and businessman cancelled her credit cards, cutting off her 'only' means to support herself.

In an emergency request for cash, filed at a Florida court, Mrs Norman accused him of changing the locks at their 10.5-million pound home on Jupiter Island off the Florida coast.

She claimed this was done to 'coerce' her into signing an altered divorce settlement.

The golfer's legal team said the allegations were 'unfounded and grossly inaccurate' and Norman 'reserves the right to bring action for libel and/or defamation of character'.

Good name

Martin L Haines, Norman's lawyer, said the golfer changed the locks because he needed access to the home after his wife had changed them first.

He claimed Mrs Norman, 57, still had access to at least five credit cards, and said Norman, 52, had 'gone well beyond providing daily living expense for her [Laura] and her mother'.

He also said Norman - nicknamed the Great White Shark - had bought her a £2-million pound home in nearby Palm Beach.

"Her allegations are 100 per cent inaccurate and designed to sensationalise the case and to demean Mr Norman's good name," said Mr Haines.

Previously, the parties had seemed close to a deal thought to hand the former flight attendant half the golfer's 250-million pound fortune.

Norman filed for divorce last June, after 25 years of marriage and two children, stating the relationship was 'irretrievably broken'.

He moved into a 3.5-million pound home in Boca Raton, Florida, close to that of his new girlfriend, former tennis player Chris Evert.