A wealthy property developer has been jailed for 14 months for contempt of court in relation to his divorce settlement.
John Hart, 83, was ordered to hand over £3.5m of his £9.4m wealth to his ex-wife, former flight attendant Karen Hart, as well as his shares in company Drakestown Properties Limited – two estates of industrial units in the West Midlands. Mr Hart did not cooperate with that court order.
Wildblood jailed Hart for 14 months, telling him: “Mr Hart, so serious are these acts of contempt that only a sentence of imprisonment is justified.
After delaying the transfer of the company, Hart and his staff “stripped out” all the management records of the company, leaving behind only two bank statements and a collection of licences and leases, the judge said. Hart was ordered on two occasions, in February and July 2016, to provide information to his ex-wife, but failed to do so.
