Earl Spencer accused of bullying wife, court document reveals

She states that the earl informed her by text message in March that their marriage was over, “completely refusing” to discuss it in person or even to provide an explanation, behaviour that she says she found “both cruel and inexplicable”.

She says “the affair became clear” after she discussed matters with Jarman’s husband, Tom Jarman, who told her that his wife had multiple sclerosis.

The Countess states that this information was “volunteered” by Tom Jarman because he “plainly believed” that it was relevant to his wife’s behaviour and the fact she had embarked on an affair. It was considered “a relevant and integral part of the picture”, the document states.

She says that at no point was it suggested to her that the diagnosis was a “secret” or that she should not mention it to anyone else.

At about the same time, Jarman was due to spend five weeks at Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire, to conduct a dig. She stayed in a separate property on the estate, but she was due to have dinner every evening in Althorp House itself.

The countess decided to email Jarman to confront her about the affair and to insist that she did not enter the family home while she and her daughter still lived there.

She also “called into question the appropriateness of the claimant’s dig continuing in such circumstances”.

In response, Jarman is accused of threatening to sue the countess. She also “insisted” that she would still be having meals in the family home for the next month and that the earl had told her she could stay on the estate.

Lady Spencer says she was “left feeling helpless and confused”. She found out that Jarman objected to her telling anyone about her medical condition only when she received a solicitor’s letter in May, two weeks after she had been told about it.

As a result, the countess says, she told no one else.

Despite this, Jarman “instructed her solicitors to hound Lady Spencer in correspondence”, even complaining that she had told people about her affair with her husband, it is alleged.

The countess explained that she needed more time to respond to the claim because of a sudden deterioration in her father’s health, which meant she needed to return to her family in Canada.

“In the hours after her father’s death, whilst Lady Spencer was heavily grieving on Vancouver Island, the claimant instructed her solicitors to demand responses from her under the threat of immediately forcing her into court in London [at the same time as a similar threat was made by Earl Spencer],” the document states.

“Lady Spencer will refer to the bullying and highly insensitive manner in which this correspondence was orchestrated by her husband and his girlfriend.”

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The countess argues that in the short period during which she shared the multiple sclerosis diagnosis with immediate family members or close friends and associates, it was “in a way which was entirely justified and legitimate in the circumstances” as she came to terms with her husband’s affair, his “sudden and cruel” request for a divorce and the implications for herself and her daughter.

In her claim form, Jarman alleges that she was forced to turn down work owing to the distress caused by the leak of her private medical information.

She is suing for damages and seeking an injunction against Lady Spencer to prevent the further sharing of the information.

The earl, who has been married three times, announced in June that he and the countess were divorcing. He publicly confirmed his relationship with Jarman in October.

Earl Spencer told the Daily Mail this week that the countess had ended their marriage, adding: “The notion that I would end my marriage by text is an absurd attempt to blacken my name.”

The Telegraph, London

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