Property tycoon jailed for contempt in cash fight with estranged wife

Mr Justice Moor said Scot Young, 51, had been in flagrant contempt during a long-running High Court cash fight with Michelle Young, 48.

The judge described one explanation Young had given for not complying with orders as absurd and said another response was “next to useless”.

Yesterday’s hearing at the High Court in London was the latest stage in a legal fight stretching back several years.

High Court judges have heard that the Youngs, who both live in London and have two daughters, separated in 2006.

In 2009, a judge ordered Young to pay Mrs Young £27,500 a month maintenance. Young – who has been described at earlier court hearings as a “property tycoon” – says he is bankrupt and cannot pay.

Mrs Young says Young has “secreted enormous assets”.

As he was led away in handcuffs carrying a Louis Vuitton overnight bag, Young said: “This is a sad day for British justice.”

Young’s girlfriend – model Noelle Reno, 29, said: “I didn’t expect six months.”

Edward Fitzgerald QC, for Mrs Young, said Young pleaded poverty but he was “going from party to party with champagne glass in his hand and his current girlfriend, some supermodel or other, on his arm.”

Young said he had been harassed by eight private detectives instructed by Mrs Young and made ill.

He was “under greater surveillance than a terrorist”.