A modern-day Mr Selfridge tried to strip his ex-wife of a £1.8million divorce payment during an epic 20-year legal battle.
After their split, William Alun Cathcart (78), former chairman of Selfridges departmental store, consented to have a secret child with Pamela Owen, his second wife.
Now the High Court has thrown out claims made by the multi-millionaire stemming from the ‘repugnant’ pact.
A top divorce judge blasted the pair’s ‘furious, hostile, embittered conduct’ as he accused Mr Cathcart of making ‘wholly misconceived’ accusations against his ex.
In exchange for his ex-wife’s promise that she wouldn’t seek maintenance, the businessman donated his sperm, which he had been using for more than three decades.
However, he accuse Miss Owen of fraud after the agreement was retracted and threatens to inform his children that Miss Owen is not his biological mother.
William Alun Cathcart (78), former chair of Selfridge’s department shop, was willing to have a secret baby with his second wife Pamela Owen, after their split
Mr. Cathcart became a director at the department store that was renowned for its high quality products, Harry Gordon Selfridge. Selfridge is the subject of an ITV period drama.
During a six-year spell as chairman he oversaw the £600million sale of the company to Galen Weston in 2003 and was also chief executive of car hire giant Avis’s European business.
When he first married Miss Owen (a former cabin attendant), he was already a grandfather. They were later to marry in 1997.
The pair, who couldn’t conceive naturally, had their first baby in March 2001 thanks to fertility treatment in California using donor eggs.
During a six-year spell as chairman of Selfridge’s, Cathcart oversaw the £600million sale of the company to Galen Weston in 2003
But the couple split just three months later, as Mr Cathcart – known by middle name Alun – formed a new relationship with another woman, to whom he is now married.
In 2004, unbeknown to his new wife, Mr Cathcart agreed to provide sperm for a second IVF baby using an egg donor with Miss Owen – but only if she guaranteed he would not have to pay maintenance, even demanding £100,000 as security against future claims by her, with the child born in 2005.
The wrangling began three years later when Miss Owen applied for maintenance while struggling to care for the children, who had ‘profound learning difficulties’.
In 2011, Mr Cathcart agreed to pay £20,000 a year per child, plus school fees.
After a year, Cathcart and Cathcart were forbidden from disclosing information about their conception to the children until they reached adulthood.
Miss Owen later obtained a court order to ban him from seeing the children and eventually told them the truth herself – after Mr Cathcart sought permission to reveal the secret.
Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridge, was the subject of an ITV period drama Mr Selfridge
The battle spilled into court again this year as Mr Cathcart accused his ex of fraud – based on his discovery that Miss Owen had unsuccessfully tried to have another child using his stored sperm after they split.
He applied to strip her of the £1.8million she won after their divorce, claiming that if he’d known of her attempts to have a baby behind his back he would not have agreed to it.
But Mr Justice Mostyn threw out Mr Cathcart’s allegations, saying: ‘It is difficult to understand the psychological processes that drive such furious, hostile, embittered conduct over such a prolonged period.’
The judge also insisted that the divorce payment was less than 20 per cent of the couple’s assets at the time.