Tycoon refused his wife credit card

A shipping tycoon with a fortune estimated at £50 million kept his wife on such a tight rein that he refused her a bank account for most of their marriage and denied her a credit card until three years ago.

George Tsavliris, 53, would not carry a key to the couple's £10m home in Virginia Water, Surrey, expecting his wife Christiana to let him in however late he returned.

As well as the Surrey home, overlooking Wentworth Golf Club, and complete with swimming pool, tennis court and servants, the couple had a flat in Athens and a boat with a crew.

But London-born Greek Mr Tsavliris treated his wife like a second-class citizen, constantly belittled her and refused to allow her financial independence for most of their marriage. The tycoon's behaviour was revealed in a judgment granting diplomat's daughter Ms Tsavliris, 42, a divorce on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour.

London divorce cour t recorder Alison Ball said Mr Tsavliris thought of his wife as someone who should be satisfied with her expensive lifestyle and who should always be under his control as he was the provider. She said: "The wife eventually faced up to the fact that her husband treated her like a second-class citizen."

Following the breakup of their 12-year marriage, Ms Tsavliris is negotiating a settlement from her husband, who is head of the London end of his family's salvage business. Described by the recorder as "intelligent and articulate", she could be entitled to a third of his fortune. The couple have three children.

Ms Tsavliris claimed that if she needed something while her husband was away she was reduced to the indignity of asking his secretary. Miss Ball said: "I cannot think of a more obvious way of telling a person who is the inferior partner."

Miss Ball said Mr Tsavliris sought to control his wife's movements. She added: "If he had no key she could not go out without him without risking him being locked out."

A former business associate today described how Mr Tsavliris received the divorce writ. He said: "George came down to breakfast in the magnificent dining room that overlooks the golf course and found his wife reading a newspaper. He sat at the other end of the vast dining table and started to open the mail. The first letter he received was her writ."

He described public schooleducated Mr Tsavliris as a "flamboyant character" whose "main interest is money".

The recorder rejected the tycoon's counter-claim that Ms Tsavliris had manipulated the marriage breakdown to feather her own nest.