A wealthy couple's 43-year marriage "irretrievably broke down" when a businessman with a passion for shooting "put to death" his wife's pet ram, a High Court judge has said.
The animal was killed as the "very rich" 68-year-old man and his 70-year-old Austrian wife had a "most animated argument", said Mr Justice Mostyn.
The judge said both had subsequently filed for divorce.
Detail has emerged after the couple fought over money at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
Mr Justice Mostyn said the man was a successful businessman and the couple owned a £15 million property in London and a property in the south of France.
The judge said the man's "principal passion might be said to have been the collection of fine wine" and his "second passion" seemed to be shooting.
"After over 40 years of marriage, relations between the parties in 2011 soured and, in that year, according to the wife, the husband asked for a separation," said Mr Justice Mostyn in a written ruling on a preliminary dispute about maintenance.
"In June 2013, relations between the parties irretrievably broke down, when the parties had a most animated argument in the south of France, in circumstances where the husband had put to death the wife's pet ram."
Mr Justice Mostyn said the woman applied for maintenance, pending a trial of the couple's claims over money, at a hearing in March.
The woman's "budget" included £18,000 a year for restaurants, £70,000 for holidays and European flights, and £24,000 for clothes and footwear. The man said her claims were "too high".
Mr Justice Mostyn said he had concluded that the man should pay her around £14,000 a month - about £170,000 a year - maintenance.
He said a hearing where "definitive findings" would be made on their "competing contentions" over money was scheduled for December.
Too much fun, for some: Raucous hen and stag parties are rubbing Sandbanks residents up the wrong way (Picture: File/Alamy)
Some people count down the days until a stag or hen do – while others will groan at the damage a weekend of enforced jollity will do to their liver and bank balance.
But few of us can be as fed up with pre-nuptial festivities as the wealthy citizens of Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, where revellers flock each weekend to stay in seaside ‘party houses’.
Naked butlers serving drinks to giggling ‘hens’ are a familiar insult to the eyes of residents who glance over their garden fences, it appears.
And one homeowner said he had seen ‘blow-up dolls brought from a sex shop all the way around the veranda’ of the house next door.
‘People, when they’ve drunk a lot, do cause anti-social behaviour,’ said Poole MP Robert Syms in a Westminster Hall debate at parliament.
‘I really think this needs to be acted upon, or the situation will get worse. I fear the anger of my constituents is such that some of them will take the law into their own hands.’
Tory Mr Syms said websites advertising short-term lets of Poole properties were offering services such as naked butlers as optional extras.
He added one resident had complained about ‘prostitutes being delivered well into the night’ at a nearby house.
People who had worked hard to be able to retire to the area were being made to witness ‘sometimes the most outrageous behaviour’, he said.
Home Office minister Norman Baker said new laws coming into force later this year would help councils deal with party houses.
But the Lib Dem added: ‘I want to be clear that these kind of short-term letting arrangements do not always result in anti-social behaviour.’