Scots tycoon’s wife awarded £20m settlement

Scot Young and Michelle Young have been locked in a bitter court battle. Picture: PA

But Michelle Young, 49, insisted that husband Scot, 51, was worth “billions” and described Mr Justice Moor’s award as “disgraceful”.

Mrs Young said it was not the settlement she deserved and told reporters “this isn’t over”.

Mr Justice Moor assessed Mr Young to be worth £40 million - after analysing evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London - and said Mrs Young was entitled to half.

The judge said he knew Mrs Young would find it hard to enforce his order but said Mr Young would never be free of the debt.

He said the case had been “quite extraordinary” and had seen Mrs Young run up millions of pounds in legal bills.

“It’s disgraceful,” said Mrs Young, after the ruling. “He’s worth billions.”

She added: “Many people will be watching this and think it’s a fortune but at the moment all this order is a piece of paper.”

Mr Young, who says he suffered a financial “meltdown” seven years ago, told reporters: “No comment.”

The judge had heard that the Youngs, who live in London and have two daughters, separated in 2006 after starting a relationship in 1989.

Mrs Young claimed that Mr Young had hidden “a vast fortune”. She claimed that she was a victim of ‘’fraud’’ and said Mr Young had manipulated his affairs so as to do her down.

Mr Young says he is bankrupt, penniless and has debts adding up to £28 million.

The judge criticised Mr and Mrs Young.

He said Mrs Young’s evidence had not been reliable and said she saw “conspiracy everywhere”.

But he said Mr Young was “hiding the truth” and was not “a penniless man of straw with huge debts”.

And he said he had sympathy for the couple’s children.

Mr Young was later told to pay £5 million towards Mrs Young’s legal costs by the judge.