Divorcing wife sues for age discrimination

Woman, 60, accused husband, 72, of leaving her for a ‘younger’ lover, but new partner was 63

A WEALTHY accountant sued her husband for age discrimination because she wrongly thought he had left her for a younger woman, a tribunal heard.

Eleanor Belson, 60, claimed that Tim Belson, 72, was ageist for ending their marriage and making her redundant from his business.

She worked for him as a bookkeeper at the jewellery business in Hatton Garden, London. Her claim was one of many she made against her husband of 11 years in a case revealing details of their “acrimonious divorce”.

However, her claims were dismissed after the employment tribunal ruled that it was actually her who left the marriage and that Mr Belson’s new partner was, in fact, at 63, older than her.

But Mrs Belson won a claim of unfair dismissal and is now in line to receive compensation from the company.

Mr Belson, an Olympian in the 1976 Games who was a member of the British Fencing team from 1971 to 1981, married Mrs Belson in 2009.

She worked at his company, called Jewellery Validation Service, which trades as Prestige Valuations.

The couple lived in a £1.2million penthouse apartment in a block of flats overlooking the River Thames in Wapping, east London.

But the tribunal heard that their relationship started to sour in early 2021, with Mr Belson alleging that his wife went on holiday to Antigua with their elderly neighbour, named in the tribunal as Mr Y, and began an affair.

Mr Belson claimed at the hearing that Mr Y amended his will to leave Mrs Belson $1million (£800,000), and that she made “an unsigned revision to her will leaving all her property to Mr Y”.

However, she dismissed the accusation,

‘We reject evidence that he was motivated by age. It is clear that it was her who left the marital relationship’

saying that the man was “83, old and gay”.

Mr Belson hit back, saying that “Mr Y is only 76 and fit” and that the pair have been spotted shopping in the Waitrose supermarket together.

The tribunal heard that in the summer of 2021 Mrs Belson and Mr Y bought a flat together in the same apartment building, three doors from her marital home. However, the hearing was told that Mr Belson was unaware of the purchase and, at work, they began protracted settlement discussions as part of her exit from the company, amid the start of divorce proceedings.

Mrs Belson believed Mr Belson was motivated to oust her from his business because he had found love with Julie Lawn, a “younger woman”, who was in fact older than Mrs Belson.

In 2022, when Mr Belson discovered that Mrs Belson was buying the flat with Mr Y, Mr Belson sacked her from his company immediately.

He believed it substantially changed the divorce settlement, thinking that instead of owing her £150,000, she owed him hundreds of thousands of pounds. The tribunal ruled that this amounted to unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal, and that she was entitled to be paid five weeks’ notice.

Mrs Belson’s claims of age, disability and marital status discrimination as well as whistle blowing detriments all failed. Judge Stout told the central London tribunal: “We reject Mrs Belson’s evidence that Mr Belson was motivated by her age on the basis that he had ‘left her for a younger woman’ ... as his new girlfriend is older than Mrs Belson.”

He added: “Further, it is clear that it was Mrs Belson who left the marital relationship.”

Mrs Belson will receive compensation for unfair dismissal at a later date.