An aristocrat has won the first round of her High Court battle with a solicitor who she claims tricked her out of her £2m life savings - after telling the judge she has to beg, steal and borrow in order to be able to survive .
Baroness Jacqueline Van Zuylen says she was desperate and suffering sleepless nights about the whereabouts of her millions after handing them to solicitor Rodney Whiston-Dew to invest on her behalf in 2012.
Mr Whiston-Dew, 70, is currently in prison after after being jailed in 2017 for his role in a £65m tax scam, then subsequently stuck off.
Baroness van Zuylen is now suing him, demanding her money back, plus damages, while the disgraced lawyer denies any wrongdoing.
Baroness Jacqueline van Zuylen sues jailed lawyer for lost £2m thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Alan Davidson / Shutterstock
A Baroness was among the victims of an A-list lawyer who was convicted of running one of the biggest tax fraud schemes in UK history in 2017, according to the
Daily Mail.
Baroness Jacqueline van Zuylen told London s High Court that after being introduced to Rodney Whiston-Dew by her ex-husband s new partner a decade ago, she was persuaded by him to invest just over £2 million of her money into a trust in the Seychelles. She claims that he would not divulge the status of her money despite frequent requests, and, after five years, asked for him to return it, which he did not. She is now suing him for £4 million.
Baroness sues her lawyer after claiming she was tricked into signing over £2m fortune dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.