BY LUCY CAULKETT-

Lithuanian, Greta Cerniauskaite- a cleaner at the National Portrait Gallery when she met 62-year-old John Higgins- is one of the luckiest ladies in town right now. john Higgins who owned a number of plumbing and heating businesses and is a millionaire  told a tribunal that he put his house in her name  to make it easier to get a mortgage because of debts in his name, but the judge did not believe him. Judge Anne Mcclister insisted the house was given to his girlfriend as a gift.

Millionaire big time spender, Higgins, bought his woman a £160,000 Bentley, £8,000 worth of monogrammed sheets and towels from Milan, and an annual allowance of £93,000 for a ‘job’ that required no actual labour of any sort.

The expensive property bought in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire was one of several  the couple owned  in 2009, despite the pair never having lived there. The former lovers owned other properties in Florida, and enjoyed holidays in Alaska, Cuba, Thailland , and Mauritius. The evidence heard by the court that the relationship began to deteriorate from 2007 and that Mr. Higgins only stayed with her because his son adored her, supports the idea that she wanted ‘out’ and he became bitter about this.

The couple  first met in 2004 when Millionaire Higgin’s first marriage was on the rocks, and his Lithuanian girlfriend herself has been divorced twice. So one common fact is that these pair have both bungled at least a marriage each- in the case of Greta, two marriages.More than one failed marriage never looks good on anyone, but this doesn’t necessarily mean a person who has failed in marriage twice cannot have been a victim of wrong treatment both times.

Nevertheless, it is not a good idea to be hasty to conclude a marriage before all options of resolution have been exhausted. One thing that is clear is that this relationship failed, and the beautiful Lithuanian girl came out laughing with a high fly car and an expensive house. Let’s hope for the sake of justice that she deserves these luxuries and hasn’t just exploited an unsuspecting millionaire business mogul. However, the central issue here is not a moral one, but a legal one.

 “There is no doubt that John was extremely generous in these years and that considerable sums of money passed through his hands,” she said.
“It is clear from all the evidence I have heard and read that John now feels very bitter towards Greta and has convinced himself that, from the outset, her intentions were to get what she could out of the relationship financially.”But, she added: “I accept Greta’s evidence and in particular that John reassured her that, whatever happened, she would have the property.”

QUESTIONABLE

Whatever the reason he put the house in her name, the fact is that he gave her legal right over the property the moment the millionaire did that. Considering all the money he spent on her apart from the house, the logical conclusion is that he intended it be hers, but decided to try and take it back out of spite when the relationship lost its flames.