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Property developer Richard Butler-Creagh says that he is owed the sum, plus around £400,000 in interest, by Iranian heiress Aida Hersham, for his role in her purchase of
His counsel, James Lewis QC, told Eady J that when the 17th century property and its 60 acres of land came onto the market in 2008, it attracted “considerable interest”, with more than 150 people viewing it.
Twelve bids were received for the property, which has a listed chapel and stables, is famed for “its exceptional quality and uniqueness” and was widely attributed to Sir Christopher Wren.
Butler-Creagh’s offer of £22.5m was accepted by the Catholic Marian Fathers, who had owned the property for 55 years and run it as a school.
However, Butler-Creagh claims that he was then approached by Hersham, and agreed to facilitate her purchase for a fee of £5m.
He claims to have negotiated the price down to £13m on her behalf, and that she completed the purchase in October 2008.
However, Lewis said, Hersham now claims “nothing was agreed”.
He told the judge that it “defies common sense” that his client would surrender his interest in the property, or let someone else take it over, without receiving a fee.
Lewis said that Butler-Creagh even made his solicitor to draw up the agreement and added: “It would be very strange, if Butler-Creagh had not made such an agreement for £5m, for him to have told his solicitor such and have asked for such an agreement to be drawn up.”
Butler-Creagh sent Hersham an invoice in April last year, but she refused to pay. He is asking the judge to order her to pay the sum, plus interest mounting at £1,095 per day.
In her defence, Hersham contends that no agreement was reached and that, in any event, if they had made an agreement, he would only receive such a sum if she had made a £32m profit on the property.
The hearing is scheduled to last three weeks.
