Air hostess in £20m court battle

A Jewish air hostess who claims to be the widow of a wealthy Arab was today at the centre of an extraordinary court battle over his £20 million fortune.

Lesley June Al-Bassam says she is entitled to all the assets left by the man she says was her husband, Abdulaziz Al-Bassam, who died in 2001.

But today the High Court heard his only surviving relative is contesting the claim - and alleges that his devout Muslim brother, a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, would never have married her.

Mrs Al-Bassam claims her husband was a "prodigious" drinker, smoker and gambler with whom she was very happy, even though they lived in separate Belgravia flats.

But the dead man's halfbrother, Abdullah Al-Bassam, is contesting her right to the fortune, and today his lawyers told the High Court that Abdulaziz was a "confirmed bachelor" who wanted to leave his fortune to his family.

Abdullah's barrister said he had been shocked when told of the marriage claim, and contested that it had never taken place.

But Mrs Al-Bassam's barrister told the court the wealthy Arab had chosen not to tell his half-brother of the relationship, because she was Jewish and already had an illegitimate son. Barrister Tom Lowe said: "He was a well-connected Arab with an illustrious pedigree. She was 20 years younger. She was of Jewish extraction and had an illegitimate son. It would scarcely have met the approval of Abdullah or his sons, or the Saudi royals with whom they were connected, to have learned that she was his wife."

Abdulaziz was a Saudi citizen who was born in Zubair, in modern Iraq, and came from a family which included in its ancestors the Prophet Mohammed.

But Abdullah's QC, Charles Aldous, said that before Abdulaziz's death from cancer at the age of 76, he had moved massive sums of money out of British jurisdiction.

"If he genuinely intended to benefit Mrs Al-Bassam it seems odd that he transferred substantial assets effectively out of her reach," Mr Aldous said. The hearing continues.