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A modern-day Mr Selfridge tried to strip his ex-wife of a £1.8million divorce payment during an epic 20-year legal battle.
The saga began when William Alun Cathcart, 78, former chairman of Selfridges department store, agreed to father a secret child with second wife Pamela Owen after they split.
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.
The businessman agreed to donate his sperm to Miss Owen, 66, behind the back of his new wife, more than three years after they split, in exchange for a vow by his ex-wife that she would never seek maintenance for the child.
But when the deal backfired he accused Miss Owen of fraud and threatened to tell his estranged children that his ex-wife was not their biological mother.
William Alun Cathcart, 78, former chairman of Selfridge's department store, agreed to father a secret child with second wife Pamela Owen after they split
Mr Cathcart joined the high-end department store, whose founder Harry Gordon Selfridge was the focus of the ITV period drama Mr Selfridge, as a director in 1998.
During a six-year spell as chairman he oversaw the £600million
