… seeks to regain £15m mansion from ‘surrogate daughter’

One-time British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka (1987-1991) David Gladstone, 87, has moved the High Court of UK to regain Wotton House, in Buckinghamshire, a Grade 1 listed mansion worth 15 mn pounds, from Leigh White, 55, who steadfastly refused the vacate it, The Telegraph has reported.

India McTaggart dealt with Gladstone’s costly legal bid in a story headlined ‘Retired ambassador in row with ‘surrogate daughter’ living in his £15m mansion,’ according to The Telegaph report date-lined Nov. 07.

White, a lawyer by profession, moved into Wotton House, in 2017, on the invitation of Gladstone, whose neighbours included Sir Tony Blair, former British Premier. Gladstone and Leigh had become friends in the early 1990s.

According to The Telegraph, Gladstone originally invited his ‘surrogate daughter,’ Leigh White, to move in to help manage the estate.

The former diplomat, who moved up north during the first lockdown, to shield from Covid-19, now wants to move back but couldn’t do so due to White’s refusal to leave.

Lawyer White has claimed she has a right to stay as ‘successor and heiress’ to Gladstone’s fortune, The Telegraph reported.

The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa declared Gladstone, a grandson of popular 19th Century Liberal British Prime Minister William Gladstone, persona non grata in 1991 alleging he interfered in violence marred Local Government polls in the Southern Province.

During a two-week trial at the High Court, according to The Telegraph, Justice Trower heard that Gladstone and his late wife April’s friendship with White flourished through shared interests in Sri Lanka, classical music and theatre.

The property, which dates from 1714, had been in Mrs Gladstone’s family for over half a century, and boasts famous neighbours in Sir Tony and Cherie Blair as well as extensive grounds with pleasure gardens and two lakes, The Telegraph reported. Gladstone inherited the property, in 2014, following the death of his wife April. The Blairs moved in 2008.

The Court has been told since 2007 onwards, Gladstone repeatedly assured White that Wotton House, and two other properties, making up his £20 million estate, would go to her when he died, The Telegraph reported.

White is on record as having claimed that Gladstone – who she said treated her as a ‘surrogate daughter’ – promised it would be hers, a claim the former diplomat disputed. Gladstone says he is “desperate” to spend his final years there.

Gladstone has sued White, who currently lives at the property with her son and husband, for possession of the house.

White has countersued at the High Court, alleging Gladstone must have forgotten his earlier promises due to old age.

Penelope Reed KC, Ms White’s barrister, highlighted a lunch at the National Liberal Club that year “when David asked her if she would take on Wotton when he and April died, which she reasonably understood as meaning she would inherit it”.

It was only after he moved to Cumbria to shield with his new wife, Mary, during the first lockdown that the relationship and Gladstone’s inheritance plans changed unexpectedly, The Telegraph quoted White as having said.

Gladstone demanded White move out so he could move in with Mary and announced he had written a new will, placing his estate into a discretionary trust for the benefit of his family, leaving nothing for White, The Telegraph reported.

Her barrister, Reed, said it would be ‘unconscionable’ for Gladstone to go back on his alleged promises, arguing that Ms White had harmed her career as a lawyer on the basis that she was to inherit the estate.

But for Gladstone, Tracey Angus KC denied that there had ever been a promise that White would inherit Wotton herself and, as a lawyer, she must have understood that he intended for it to go into trust “for many generations”.

She said the alleged promise that she would “take on” Wotton at the Liberal Club “could not reasonably have been interpreted” as a promise that she would inherit Wotton outright or have any right to live there before his death.

Gladstone denies that he asked her to move in to more closely manage the house, pointing out that he had managed it for many years while living part-time in London.

The court heard that White gradually assumed a tighter hold over Mr Gladstone’s estate and financial affairs after moving in, “including sacking his long-standing accountant and appointing (her husband) in his place,” the barrister said.

“White refused to move out and instead appears to have decided the house was her and her son’s primary residence,” claimed the KC, who added that she was then joined at Wotton by her husband “at some point during 2022”.

“He desperately wants to spend what remains of his life at Wotton…David’s relationship with White has broken down irretrievably.

“Regardless of who is at fault for this, David cannot return to Wotton whilst Ms White is there and it is unfair to exclude him from his home,” she said.

As well as the fight over the future of the house, Gladstone has also sought the return of about £800,000 in bonds which he transferred to White, saying they were made at a time when she was in the “ascendancy over him” due to his age.

The Telegraph

reported that Gladstone also wants White removed from her position as trustee of a “heritage property maintenance fund” established for the purpose of maintaining Wotton.

The judge is expected to deliver a ruling on the case at a later date.