Payment to protect Princess Haya and children from threat sheikh poses to them is highest awarded by a UK court
The ruler of Dubai has been ordered to pay his ex-wife Princess Haya and their two children a divorce settlement which could reach over half a billion pounds – the highest ever awarded by a UK court – to protect them from the threat he poses to them.
In a written judgment, Mr Justice Moor said that “uniquely” the “main threat” to Haya and the children came from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also prime minister of the United Arab Emirate, a close Gulf ally of Britain.
Sheikh Mohammed orchestrated the abductions of two of his other children, Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – in the latter case from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected Haya to a campaign of “intimidation”.
Using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, he hacked the phones of Haya and five of her associates, including two of her lawyers, while the couple were locked in court proceedings.
His agents attempted to buy a £30m estate next door to Haya’s Berkshire home in a “very significant threat to her security”.