Divorce case leads to jail as marital millions of husband No 2 up for grabs

Former model Alisa Thiry's $63 million settlement after her first marriage may now be swelled by a share of the $40 million in assets from her marriage to businessman Didier Thiry.

A former fashion director who won $32 million ($63 million) in a divorce from her first husband has had her second spouse sentenced to jail in a battle over their $40 million marital assets.

Alisa Thiry, 49, received the first settlement in 2004 after the end of her 10-year marriage to Stephen Marks, the co-founder of French Connection designer clothing company, with whom she had three children.

The former model, who lives in Kensington Park Gardens in west London, then married Didier Thiry, a Belgian businessman and property magnate.

At the start of their relationship Thiry, 52, was worth $8 million, the High Court in London was told.

The couple, whose assets include a beach house on the Caribbean island of St Barts, where they met, are now embroiled in a divorce battle.

Justice Newton, sitting in the Family Division, ordered that Thiry be jailed for four months for contempt of court over a row about a $13.8 million loan.

After Thiry failed to disclose information in relation to the case, the judge warned: "It must be understood by this husband, and by all husbands, that when considerable time, money and effort have been expended, it is simply unacceptable for the court to be treated in this way."

The court heard that Alisa Thiry, who worked as creative director at French Connection and as fashion editor at Elle magazine, was already wealthy when she married her second husband, not least as a result of her first divorce.

During her first marriage, she and Marks lived in St Barts as well as in East Hampton, near New York.

The rise of French Connection in the late 1990s helped propel the couple into a new social circle and they counted Sting, the singer, and Guy Ritchie, the film director who was formerly married to Madonna, among their friends.

Justice Newton said that, during the second marriage, as "part of very complex financial arrangements between husband and wife", a company owned by Alisa Thiry made a loan of $17 million ($27 million) to one of her husband's companies that has, she claims, never been paid off.

On March 12, Judge Sir Peter Singer made an order requiring Didier Thiry to disclose information relating to the loan.

However, Harry Oliver, counsel for Alisa Thiry, told the court this week that her husband had failed to comply with the order. The barrister said Alisa Thiry wanted "vital information regarding a US$50 million ($58.3 million) bond issued over companies relevant to [the divorce] proceedings, and how a loan owed to the wife, that is the central object of proceedings, worth $17 million-plus, will be met."

Jailing Didier Thiry, Justice Newton said his contempt in failing to disclose that information had been "flagrant".

He added: "I take the view that this type of behaviour cannot be tolerated. I find the contempt proved ... and in the circumstances I propose to pass an immediate sentence of four months' imprisonment."

According to her online profile, Alisa Thiry became a model at 15 when she left London for a contract in Japan.

She worked at several magazines including Marie Claire, Mirabella and Elle, before becoming creative director at French Connection.

The judge also ordered Didier Thiry to pay a $10,000 bill for legal costs.

Justice Newton said Didier Thiry was currently in Belgium but would be arrested as soon as he arrived in Britain.

However, he gave him an opportunity to apply for a hearing to "purge his contempt" by providing the information ordered by the court and apologising.

Alisa Thiry declined to comment outside court after the hearing.

Her husband did not attend and was not represented.