The former wife of a millionaire businessman whose family founded the Screwfix chain has lost a High Court argument over company shares — but has been awarded more than £1 million ($1.3 million) to cover the cost of bringing up their children.
James Goddard-Watts and former wife Julia, who divorced in 2010, have been involved in a long-running row over money.
A judge has now ruled on the latest round of that fight.
Sir Jonathan Cohen considered arguments at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London earlier this year.
Judges were told Mr and Ms Goddard-Watts, who are both in their 50s, had reached an agreement in 2010 at the end of their 13-year marriage.
Mr Goddard-Watts had agreed that his ex-wife should get a house worth £3.25 million and a £4 million lump sum.
She subsequently complained that he had not revealed the full extent of his wealth.
A judge then concluded that Mr Goddard-Watts had “given a false presentation” when making the 2010 agreement, and in 2016 he was told to hand his ex-wife more than £6 million ($7.8 million).
Ms Goddard-Watts returned to court again in 2018 and made further complaints.
Sir Jonathan has outlined details of his conclusion about those complaints in a ruling published online.
He said one issue centred on “the value and realisation” of Mr Goddard-Watts’ shares in a company he did not name.
He said Ms Goddard-Watts had claimed that, if she had known the “full picture and prospects” of the company, she might have “insisted that she receive some of [Mr Goddard-Watts’] shareholding in the company as part of the settlement”.
But the judge said he rejected that argument for a “number of reasons”.
“She never sought shares in the company at any stage when negotiations were taking place in 2009/10,” said Sir Jonathan.
“The relationship between [them] was so bad that it is inconceivable that a court would have contemplated such a situation.
“[Her] involvement in the business had been negligible.
“There is no prospect that [Mr Goddard-Watts] would have agreed it.”
“In short, I regard this argument as a rewriting of history. It would never have been in [her] contemplation to seek an interest and nor would it ever have been awarded,” the judge said.
Sir Jonathan said Ms Goddard-Watts had also complained that Mr Goddard-Watts had not given “full and frank disclosure until the very last moment before the trial started” during the latest stage of proceedings.
He did not criticise Mr Goddard-Watts and said: “I do not find [his] disclosure in this round of proceedings to have been significantly deficient or material to the outcome.”
Sir Jonathan awarded Mrs Goddard-Watts another £1.1m to cover money she had spent on the care and upbringing of the couple’s two children, who are now adults.
He said the “burden” of the children’s care and upbringing had fallen on her following the end of the marriage — and concluded that she needed more money.
“It cannot have been in the contemplation of either party that the whole of the burden of the children’s care and upbringing should have fallen on [her] from 2010,” said the judge.
“As a result of the disagreement between the parents, all the emotional and physical parenting has fallen on [her].
“I take that into account in my approach to needs.”
He said he considered that an award of £1.1 million produced a fair outcome in “all the circumstances of the case”.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
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Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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South Korea
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
