An extraordinary feature of the present case is the parties have spent about £1.5m in legal fees Lord Justice Thorpe

She turned it down and successfully applied to the High Court for the fight over their marital assets to be heard in the UK.

Mr Moore lost an appeal against the ruling last month.

Giving their reasons for the decision on Friday, three judges said the couple were "seemingly very rich" and had emigrated for tax reasons.

"An extraordinary feature of the present case is the parties have spent about £1.5m in legal fees," said Lord Justice Thorpe.

"We do not know whether this lamentable and grotesque waste of family resources is the result of the intransigence of one of the parties or because the husband hopes that the Spanish court ... will misapply English law to his benefit."