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A wealthy couple with links to Tony Blair and Ivanka Trump went on holidays together and had sex after their decree nisi, a court heard amid a legal battle over how long their marriage lasted.
Angela Jilina, 49, claims her marriage to Walid Abu-Zalaf, 64, broke down in 2020, but he insists it was over in 2013 – just a year after they wed.
That year a family court judge granted a decree nisi, a decree which signals the end of a marriage, after an application by Ms Jilina.
Ms Jilina will benefit by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ if the court accepts her case.
Abu-Zalaf, a millionaire editor of Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, won the dispute in October 2022 but his wife has appealed to the High Court.
Angela Jilina, 49, pictured, claims her marriage to Walid Abu-Zalaf, 64, broke down in 2020, but he insists it was over in 2013 – just a year after they wed
Abu-Zalaf, a millionaire editor of Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, (left) won the dispute in October 2022 but his wife (right) has appealed to the High Court
In his previous ruling on the case Mr Justice Motsyn had said the case was ‘only about money’.
He had agreed to make financial provision for Ms Jilina as part of a prenuptial agreement, dependant on the length of the marriage.
Speaking for Ms Jilina today, Rebecca Carew Pole KC said: ‘She is still his wife and he is still her husband. The marriage is yet to be dissolved.
‘In September 2013 the wife petitioned for divorce, saying that the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
‘Neither party for a period of more than eight years sought to terminate the marriage.
‘The husband was violent before the decree nisi but not after.
‘The husband accepted that they had sexual relations after the decree nisi and that they holidayed together.
‘They were drawn together twelve months after the decree nisi.’
Ms Carew Pole said that they did not live together after the decree – but they had not done so before either.
Ms Jilina will benefit by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ if the court accepts her case
Both Jilina and Abu-Zalaf accept that they referred to each other as husband and wife in public after 2013
‘There was no cohabitation after the decree nisi but nor had there been beforehand. There was no change in that regard,’ the lawyer said.
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‘They spent several nights a week together.
‘Her husband supported her financially above and beyond the financial order until 2020.’
Addressing Ms Justice Motsyn’s comment that the case was about ‘money and only money’ Ms Carew Pole said: ‘Marriage is about a lot more than money.’
She also emphasized that Abu-Zalaf would also have been concerned about money.
She continued: ‘It was unfair of the judge to turn his ire on my client and not on the husband.’
Both Jilina and Abu-Zalaf accept that they referred to each other as husband and wife in public after 2013.
Abu-Zalaf claims that this was partly because it made it easier for her to be invited to ‘glamorous events’ and that ‘having this status is important to Angela’.
Jilina arrived in the UK in 1995 and volunteered on NHS hospital wards during the COVID pandemic. She also trained in the oncology ward at the Royal Marsden Hospital, working night shifts and caring for terminally ill patients
Ms Jilina had been involved with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and attended their daughter Kathryn’s wedding with Abu-Zalaf in 2019
‘The judge never found that my client was not telling the truth,’ Ms Carew Pole said.
‘He never rejected my client’s evidence.’
The couple have links to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie.
Ms Jilina had been involved with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and attended their daughter Kathryn’s wedding with Abu-Zalaf in 2019.
The former Prime Minister and daughter of US president Donald Trump had also been guests at their London home.
In his earlier ruling Mr Justice Motsyn said: ‘The wife’s position is superficially curious and the facts of this case are very unlikely to be repeated in the future.
‘One might ask: why does it matter whether she is divorced pursuant to the 15 November 2013 decree, or pursuant to a divorce order yet to be made?
‘The answer is that the prenuptial agreement provides for increasing levels of provision to be made to the wife depending on the length of the marriage (which is to be measured in full years from the date of the ceremony to the date of separation).’
Jilina arrived in the UK in 1995 and volunteered on NHS hospital wards during the COVID pandemic.
She also trained in the oncology ward at the Royal Marsden Hospital, working night shifts and caring for terminally ill patients.
Born in Russia, she is a dual national and considers herself British. She has family living and fighting in Ukraine.
The hearing continues.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
