A woman who has amassed £18m after three divorces is pursuing her fourth husband for a slice of his declared £45m fortune.

Susan Crossley, once married to racing magnate Robert Sangster, is claiming that a pre-nuptial agreement she signed with property developer Stuart Crossley is invalid because he failed to tell her about "tens of millions" more he had in offshore accounts.

Mrs Crossley was also married to Kevin Nicholson, whose family founded the Kwik Save supermarket chain, and Peter Lilley, the adopted son of Lilley and Skinner shoes chief Thomas Lilley.

In a ground-breaking ruling yesterday, three Court of Appeal judges dismissed her appeal over a hearing next month which will evaluate the "pre-nup" and whether it means her claims against her husband be thrown out.

Lord Justice Thorpe, giving the ruling of the court, said: "If ever there is to be a paradigm case in which the courts will look to the pre-nuptial agreement as not simply one of the peripheral factors of the case but a factor of magnetic importance, then it seems to me that this is such a case."

Lawyers for Mr Crossley said the appeal judges had ruled it is possible to short-circuit normal procedures when a financial claim in a divorce appears to be hopeless and there is a pre-nuptial contract.

The judges dismissed Mrs Crossley's appeal against a High Court judge's decision that the facts of the case could be heard in a one-day hearing rather than multiple hearings covering 18 months.

Mr Crossley had asked Mr Justice Bennett in the High Court to short-circuit procedures because the couple were only married for 14 months, there were no children, both had independent wealth and had signed an agreement forbidding court action over their finances on divorce.

Mr Crossley's lawyers said the final decision after the hearing in February next year should provide long-awaited clarification on the degree to which pre-nuptial agreements are binding in the courts.

Mr Crossley said after the hearing: "This is a fair decision. I am upset that our marriage failed. Sadly, my wife is a career divorcee."

He met his future wife in the summer of 2005 and was engaged within a few months. Before their marriage in January 2006, they signed the pre-nuptial contract agreeing they would leave the marriage without making claims against each other.

She filed for divorce last August, although from the previous June the couple had lived largely separate lives.

When she applied for the full range of financial claims against Mr Crossley, he asked the court to order that the case should be heard in one day.

Mr Justice Bennett agreed, ordering a hearing to consider all the facts of the case.

Lord Justice Thorpe said Mr Crossley, 62, was "locked in" a battle over a divorce settlement with his 50-year-old wife.

He said that before they married they employed "highly experienced lawyers" to write up their "pre-nup" which allowed them to walk away after a divorce with what they had taken into the marriage.

"This seems to me to be an entirely appropriate step for the parties to take."

The husband had had one previous marriage and a long-term relationship and had four children. Mrs Crossley has three children from her previous marriages.

The judge added: "The marriage was celebrated on January 5, 2006, and seems to have brought little or no happiness to either of the parties."

It soon broke down and the wife sued for divorce and brought claims for financial provision from Mr Crossley.

Mrs Crossley claimed that because Mr Crossley did not disclose the accounts which she said could contain up to £60m in Monaco and Andorra, the agreement was invalid. She also claimed that, by agreeing to evaluate whether the pre-nup' was a "knock-out blow" to her case, the High Court judge was ousting the jurisdiction of the courts.

Lord Justice Thorpe said the wife would be given a chance at the hearing in February to bring full evidence over the validity of the pre-nup and apply all the relevant rules governing divorce settlements.

Mr Crossley's lawyers said Lord Justice Thorpe's ruling outlined the view that pre-nups are growing in importance in a fraught area of law.

They said the final outcome of the case should provide long-awaited clarification on the degree to which pre-nuptial agreements are binding in the English courts.

Marital History

  • Husband 1: Was aged 18 when she married first husband, Kevin Nicholson, whose family founded the Kwik Save supermarket chain. The marriage lasted 18 months.
  • Husband 2: When aged 22 she married second husband Peter Lilley, an Isle of Man tax exile and heir to the Lilley and Skinner shoe fortune. The couple had a daughter, Melissa, but a second premature baby died.
  • Husband 3: At 28, she was pursued by legendary Manx tax exile, Robert Sangster. She married him in 1985. The couple had two sons. The marriage ended in divorce and a £15m settlement but she remained close to Sangster until his death from cancer in 2004.
  • Husband 4: She met multimillionaire Stuart Crossley on a blind date in June 2005. The couple were engaged within weeks and wed seven months later. The marriage lasted 18 months.