Scots property tycoon hit with £7m divorce claim

Angela Roddie, 41, of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, claims she discovered that her husband, William Roddie, had been involved in a long-running affair after finding a text message from another woman on his phone while on holiday.

The couple enjoyed a luxury lifestyle, owning a 350,000 boat called Smirker. Their home in Bothwell featured a snooker table, heated pool and two half-sized bronze horses. Mr Roddie has moved out of the 525,000 house to set up home with Jane McAloon, who sent him the message.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh yesterday, Mrs Roddie launched the claim after insisting that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. She is seeking a one-off 5 million payment.

Mrs Roddie is also demanding the house in Bothwell, where she lives with the couple's two children, aged 14 and ten.

She is asking for a 8,000 a month allowance for herself for three years and a further 8,000 a month for their children, who attend a fee-paying independent day school in Lanarkshire.

She also wants the couple's 175,000 holiday home in Kissimmee, Florida, to be sold. The settlement demanded could add up to 7 million in total.

Mr Roddie is a director with the Glasgow property management company Spectrum. Earlier this week, he said he hoped the matter could be sorted out without going to court, saying: "I have never been through anything like this before, so I do not know what will happen."

He claims he has a large overdraft and that his business interests are tied to bank loans as security.

Since Mr Roddie established the firm in 1988 with one industrial unit, Spectrum has expanded to become one of Glasgow's largest landlords. He recently sold a flat development in Glasgow for 2.5 million. The couple married on Valentine's Day in 1989 in Barlanark. Soon after, they bought the New Regal Hotel in Bath Street, Glasgow, which Mrs Roddie helped to run while working as an auxiliary nurse with cancer patients at the Beatson Oncology Centre, at the Western General Hospital, Glasgow. In 1991, they sold the hotel and built the first of three nurseries, which Mrs Roddie ran. In the same year, her husband was jailed for nine months for fraud.

Mrs Roddie claims she played a major part in building up the nurseries and Mr Roddie's property empire. But three years ago, she found out that her husband was having an affair with Miss McAloon. Mr Roddie has access to the couple's children on an informal basis.

The hearing continues today.

One of Scotland's biggest ever divorce cases was that of the African chief Oladeinde Fernandez.

His wife, Aduke, sought 300 million from him in 2003. The case was settled out of court.

Charles Saatchi's split from the art dealer Kay Hartenstein is thought to be Britain's most expensive divorce. The advertising tycoon paid 1 million in legal fees alone and argued over a 100 million arts collection.

The Jersey-based property dealer Steve Morgan split from his wife, Pamela, for a rumoured 100 million and Mick Jagger split from Jerry Hall for a reported 30 million.