Jobless graduate who ‘lived off’ her rich ex-girlfriend wins half of £1.7m home

An unemployed law graduate who was accused of using her rich girlfriend as a “cash cow” has won a legal fight for half of their £1.7million former home.

Shree Ladwa, 43, was lavished with expensive jewellery and hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash during a 16-year relationship with Beverley Chapman.

Ms Chapman, 46, bankrolled their luxury lifestyle, buying Ms Ladwa an Aston Martin for her birthday and paying off the mortgage on their home in Chingford.

But when the couple split in 2016 Ms Chapman wanted to claim the home as her own, insisting she had put it in both their names only after being pestered by Ms Ladwa.

She argued that law graduate Ms Ladwa had not done a “proper day’s work” during their time together.

But Judge Stephen Murch, at Central London county court, ruled in favour of Ms Ladwa, who argued she had been the “housewife” in a relationship likened to traditional marriage.

The judge found the women had a “common intention” to jointly own the home, and it would be put in both their names once the mortgage was paid off.


“Having seen Ms Chapman give evidence, I cannot accept that Ms Ladwa was the kind of person who could make her act against her will,” he added. “Unfortunately, I was left with the impression that Ms Chapman has convinced herself that her version of events is to be preferred, regretting what she now perceives to have been undue generosity when she was in a relationship with Ms Ladwa.”

The couple started dating in 2000 when Ms Chapman was working in her family’s building firm and Ms Ladwa was a third-year university law student. She did not go on to a career in the law, and time spent at cookery college Le Cordon Bleu did not lead to employment either, the court heard.

The Chingford home was bought in 2007 for £1.4 million in Ms Chapman’s name and transferred to joint ownership about a year later. Ms Chapman said she gave Ms Ladwa almost £400,000 during the relationship, as her partner had only a £25,000-a-year allowance from her mother to live on.

Ms Ladwa told the court she had tried hard to get a solicitor’s training contract and had “never hassled” her partner over the house. “Bev told me it would be easier to secure the mortgage if it was just in her sole name,” she said. “It was always going to be our home, our future home. I trusted her.”

She said there had been at least two marriage proposals, including £75,000 worth of engagement rings.

In the court case, Ms Chapman also tried to reclaim designer shoes, bags and jewellery by Cartier, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, as well as the proceeds of the sale of the Aston Martin. She argued the gifts, valued at about £130,000, were loans, but Judge Murch said he did not agree the two women “at any stage regarded them as a loan”.

He added: “My reason for this is that they were at all times in a relationship in which they understood perfectly that Ms Chapman had greater wealth… It can never have been envisaged that Ms Ladwa would pay them back. I cannot conclude that it was ever discussed.”

The ruling means Ms Ladwa is entitled to a half share of the house and does not have to return the gifts.