This gold digger's charter! Daughter of Bob the Builder tycoon warns wealthy women against marriage after court orders her to pay her ex £1m



Victoria Luckwell, 37, shared £6.6m home with Frankie Limata

Mr Limata demanded £2.2million share of house in divorce proceedings

Judge ordered Ms Luckwell to hand over £1.24million in court today so an 'adequate home' can be provided for her estranged husband



Home will be provided for man until couple's youngest child reaches 22



Ms Luckwell's father Mike ranked 17th in 2013 Sunday Times rich list

Previously told High Court he'd stop paying for his grandchildren's school fees if Mr Limata got a payout



Victoria Luckwell, pictured at the High Court, has been ordered to hand over £1million to her ex-husband Frankie Limata so he can buy a house

The daughter of one of Britain’s richest men warned that a gold-digger’s charter had been created yesterday after she lost a bitter High Court divorce battle.

Victoria Luckwell said there was now a strong disincentive for wealthy women to marry after being ordered to pay more than £1million to estranged husband Frankie Limata.

Mr Limata, who signed a pre-nuptial agreement, had demanded a £2.2million share of the value of their £6.6million marital home in London.

Miss Luckwell’s father Mike, who was the director of the media company that created children’s programme Bob the Builder, had previously threatened to cut off his daughter financially if Mr Limata received one penny – he has been paying her a £100,000-a-year allowance and her three children’s private school fees.

After the judgment, Miss Luckwell, 37, confirmed that her 71-year-old father, who has a £135million fortune, would stick to his vow and she will have to sell her house and raise her children on her own.

She said ‘important public policy considerations’ arose from the case, adding: ‘Unless Parliament enacts the recent Law Commission’s proposals on nuptial agreements, the law will remain in a state of uncertainty.



This results in very costly and public hearings as well as enormous emotional distress and financial uncertainty. My recent experience is exactly what nuptial agreements are designed to eliminate.

‘Sadly, I’m left to conclude there is a strong financial disincentive for a wealthy woman to marry if she cannot be assured of protecting her family’s assets. Simply put, this is a gold-digger’s charter.’

In his judgment, Mr Justice Holman said Mr Limata, 45, must receive £1.24million, including £900,000 to buy a new home.

However, Miss Luckwell will own around half of the value of the home he buys until their youngest child, now two, is 22.

Miss Luckwell was given her Connaught Square home, where Tony Blair is a neighbour, by her father in 2008. As this is her only asset, it was the only one the judge could consider.

Mr Limata admitted he signed a pre-nuptial agreement and two supplementary contracts promising never to seek his wife’s money.

Ms Luckwell's father Mike (pictured) was also present to hear the judgement. Mr Limata claims the man has 'acted in spite' throughout proceedings, threatening to cut off his daughter so he doesn't get a pay out

But after the marriage broke down in November 2012, he was left penniless and homeless, ‘living like a tramp out of bin bags,’ he said. He is now earning the minimum wage at his mother’s bed and breakfast in Notting Hill.

He claimed his father-in-law was motivated by spite and malice in vowing to cut off his daughter: ‘He has a determination to control almost every aspect of her life.’

Mr Luckwell said after the judgment: ‘A law which rewards a gold digger after signing three legal agreements merits real criticism.’

Mr Luckwell was ranked 17th in the Sunday Times Rich list. His production company created Bob the Builder (pictured)

A statement for Mr Limata said he had ‘never sought a share of his wife’s wealth’ but instead sought ‘sufficient funds to meet his real financial needs having made financial contributions himself during the marriage from employment and his own inheritance’.

It added: ‘Marriage brings with it important legal and moral obligations to care for the other spouse in a time of need, including if a marriage breaks down. Whilst those obligations can be properly regulated and defined by a pre-nuptial agreement, it cannot be right for it to remove entirely the obligation to provide for real need.’

Miss Luckwell married Mr Limata – ex-husband of underwear model and actress Katie Carr and a former boyfriend of Stella McCartney – in Mayfair in July 2005.

They met while he was working as a film editor at The Moving Picture Company, the firm her father founded. The court heard they enjoyed a lavish lifestyle involving recreational cocaine use, extravagant holidays, live-in nannies and visits to Mr Luckwell’s Surrey mansion before they split following bitter rows.

Miss Luckwell said Mr Limata had a ‘reluctance to work’ and had frittered money on designer clothes, art and strip clubs.

She accused him of making ‘cruel and wholly unjustified criticisms against my family’.

She added: ‘Frankie contributed nothing to my marriage in terms of capital. My father’s stated position that it would be outrageous if the court ordered Frankie anything is entirely understandable.’

Mr Justice Holman had urged the warring parties to find a way to reach an agreement, saying: ‘Between them they have spent £600,000 on this case. It is a great tragedy it has come this far.

‘Many hurtful things have been said. Caught in the cross fire are three adored, innocent but vulnerable children.’

He said that as Miss Luckwell ‘has never had a penny that has not come from her parents’, the only asset he could consider is the house gifted to her.

He said that one of the reasons for his decision to award Mr Limata a settlement in the ‘exceptionally bitter’ and ‘very painful’ case was the children as ‘their overall welfare is better safeguarded and promoted by making some award to their father’.