A 44-YEAR-OLD woman from Gerrards Cross is to receive an £8 million divorce settlement from her oil rich ex-husband. Victoria Jones, 44, argued the previous £5.4m payout from Gareth Jones, of Aberdeenshire, was too low after they separated in 2006. The original payment, awarded in March last year, represented 20 per cent of his £25m fortune.

Mr Jones, 58, had claimed the settlement was fair following a 10-year marriage. But Judges at the Court of Appeal in London found Mrs Jones should have half the value of the assets generated during the marriage, which totalled £16 million.

Lord Justice Wilson said Mr Jones, who lives in a castle near Aberdeen, was the sole owner of Dominion Technology Gases which he sold during the divorce settlement hearing in May 2007 for £32 million.

He said Mr Jones received £25m from the sale but "dishonestly suppressed the existence of the negotiations" and had given the value of the company as £3 million. Sir Nicholas Wall, the president of the High Court Family Division, is quoted in the judgement: “It seems to me unfortunate that our law of ancillary relief should be largely dictated by cases which bear no resemblance to the ordinary lives of most divorcing couples...

“The sums of money – including the costs - involved in this case are well beyond the experience and even the contemplation of most people. “Whether the wife has £5 or £8 million, she will still be a very rich woman and the application of the so called 'sharing' and 'needs' principles may look very different in cases where the latter predominates and the parties' assets are a tiny percentage of those encountered here.”