QC seeks “justice” for dying woman 29/8/14
It would be be “shocking” if the law failed to provide justice to a dying Western Isles woman, a QC told Stornoway Sheriff Court on Thursday.
The civil hearing heard about the “tragic” fallout when Anthony Thompson, 44, ran off with a neighbour’s wife.
He had been having a secret affair with Paula Melrose 42, and abandoned his long-
Without a word, he fled their “dream home” in Shawbost in the west side of Lewis, leaving the island on the lunchtime ferry on 22 July 2011.
Ann Wood told an earlier hearing, Mr Thompson later texted to say he was not coming back and would not make any claim on the home she built with £164,377 from her father’s will.
He had promised to “turn everything over to me” and even “wanted a reconciliation,” she said.
But cheating pair changed their minds and forced Ann out of her home at 21A New Shawbost by Christmas that year.
Though she paid for constructing the property, the house sits on croft land which is solely in Anthony Thompson’s name.
She was effectively homeless and moved in with John Melrose, her rival’s own husband, in the same village for a period, the court heard.
Ann Wood and Anthony Thompson moved from Doncaster to the Hebrides where he bought a croft and she paid £164,377 to build the house on the land, the court heard.
She is now suing her former partner for the money.
QC, Dr Craig Sandison, told the civil hearing in Stornoway, it was a “really nasty
case as no-
Dr Sandison highlighted it was one of the most “tragic” cases to come before the courts as Ms Wood is terminally ill while Mr Thomson’s health has deteriorated.
Advocate Desmond Cheyne, representing Thompson, insists the sum sued for is excessive, pointing out that island surveyor Andrew Turley valued the house at only £130,000 or so in October 2012.
Sheriff David Sutherland will issue a written judgement at a later date.