An ex-helicopter pilot who barricaded himself in his home following an acrimonious divorce battle has been arrested by Police.
A divorce court judge ordered the sale of the farmhouse in Appleby, Cumbria, in 2012, at the conclusion of the proceedings. The man’s ex-wife had filed for divorce after a 14-year marriage.
The sale was intended to pay off the couple’s debts.
The husband, who was living in the house at the time, left briefly before returning days later and refusing to leave. According to media reports, he installed barbed wire and CCTV cameras, barricading himself inside the property and reportedly threatening suicide.
He staged a series of colourful protests involving the daubed word ‘INJUSTICE’ and an effigy of a hanged man arranged on the roof and other locations around the farmhouse, which is set in 70 acres of land. One tableau also featured his car after he had set it alight.
Earlier this year, he lost an appeal against a six month sentence for contempt of court, despite claims by his lawyer that he suffers from mental health problems. As a result a warrant was issued for his arrest and he has now been taken into custody.
The former pilot declared:
“The farm is my life, it’s my safe place. ‘They’re asking me to go on the streets. I have no home, no money, no family,no wife, no girlfriend and no horses. Nothing.”
He added:
“I am not going to live in my car and I’m not going to Durham nick either.”
Sad. But if the debts exceed the assets the debts must be paid in preference to the needs of either party.