The acrimonious public confrontation between Earl Spencer and his estranged wife intensified yesterday as his lawyers questioned Lady Spencer's ability to cope with a large divorce settlement. A day after the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, was accused of being a "serial adulterer", his lawyer challenged Lady Spencer's £3.75 million sterling divorce claim with pointed references to her past lifestyle, including her spell in a rehabilitation clinic fighting alcoholism.
Mr Leslie Weinkove told the court in Cape Town, South Africa: "There is a question mark over her ability to manage such an award, given that she has a 12-step approach to life, dealing with each problem day to day."
Lord Spencer's wife, formerly Ms Victoria Lockwood, has undergone treatment for an alcohol problem. She has also admitted using hard drugs and suffered from anorexia. The 12-step programme of self-help recovery is supported by Alcoholics Anonymous.
Her lawyer, Mr Jeremy Gauntlett, hit back by issuing a lightly-veiled threat to elaborate on claims that her husband slept with up to 12 women within months of getting married. The court has heard that friends informed Lady Spencer about the alleged affairs while she was in the rehabilitation clinic.
Describing the allegations so far as "merely a summary", Mr Gauntlett said: "There will be more details of a serious kind and if it has to be drawn out, so be it."
Lady Spencer is seeking either £3.75 million in settlement or £5,000 a month for each of their four children. Lord Spencer has offered £300,000 as a lump sum.
Mr Jeremy Posnansky QC, a British family law barrister called as an expert witness by Lady Spencer, told the court: "I'm not an estate agent, but personally I think £300,000 would only get a house in a very unattractive distant suburb with problems perhaps of crime."