Dale Andrew Vince v Kate Vince
| Court | Family Court (EW) |
| Judge | Mr Justice Cusworth |
| Judgment Date | 20 December 2024 |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWFC 389 |
| Date | 20 December 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Lewis Marks Kc,Janine Mcguigan,Richard Todd Kc,Lily Mottahedan |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWFC 389
Case No: 1690-8004-0586-6795
IN THE FAMILY COURT
Sitting in the HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 20 December 2024
Before :
The Honourable Mr Justice Cusworth
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Between :
Dale Andrew Vince Applicant
- and –
Kate Vince Respondent
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lewis Marks KC and Janine McGuigan (instructed by Katz Partners LLP) for the
applicant
Richard Todd KC and Lily Mottahedan (instructed by Dawson Cornwell LLP) for the
respondent
Hearing dates: 9-16 December 2024
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JUDGMENT
This judgment was handed down remotely on 17 January 2025 by circulation to the parties or
their representatives by e-mail and by release to The National Archives.
.............................
This judgment was delivered in public but a transparency order is in force. The judge has
given leave for this version of the judgment to be published on condition that (irrespective of
what is contained in the judgment) in any published version of the judgment the anonymity of
the children must be strictly preserved. All persons, including representatives of the media
and legal bloggers, must ensure that this condition is strictly complied with. Failure to do so
may be a contempt of court.
Cusworth J :
1. Introduction. This judgment follows the final hearing of the application for financial
remedy made by Dale Vince (‘the husband’), who is now 63 (born on 29 August 1961).
Kate Vince (‘the wife’), is now aged 50 (having been born on 16 February 1974). This
case has been listed before me for 2 weeks from 9 December 2024. I have heard and read
evidence from the parties, and full and detailed written and oral submissions from counsel
on both sides, Richard Todd KC and Lily Mottahedan for the wife, and Lewis Marks KC
and Janine McGuigan for the husband. Although there have been three expert accountants
involved in the case, fortunately by the commencement of the hearing they had narrowed
any remaining issues between them to a sufficient extent that by agreement I have not had
to hear from any of them. I have however seen their extensive written material.
2. The wife is described by her counsel as a homemaker, and the husband is a well-known
green energy entrepreneur. He was an early pioneer of wind turbines or windmills, and
built some of the earliest commercially viable turbines to be connected to the National
Grid. He is the sole shareholder of the Green Britain Group Limited, which has two main
subsidiaries – Ecotricity Group Limited (‘EGL’) and Ecotricity New Ventures Limited.
EGL was incorporated, then as The Renewable Energy Company Limited (‘REC’), along
with a business called Western Windpower Limited, on 7 April 1995. The husband and his
then partner Karen Lane were appointed as directors a few days later. He argues that the
true inception of this business can be traced further back to 1991, when he had the idea of
building a large windmill on a hill (Lynch Knoll) near his home in Stroud, and it is
certainly true that he made a number of planning applications in the following years for
wind monitoring masts. In 1992 he became the UK agent of a German wind turbine
manufacturer, Enercon. Initially, his success in getting approval for his various projects
was mixed, but he persevered.
3. The husband has gone on to set up a number of businesses retailing to customers focussing
on supplying the end user with green energy. He was later responsible for the roll-out of
the first national electric vehicle charging network through ‘The Electric Highway’. His
group of companies now spans energy generation and supply to consumers and businesses,
the manufacture of small domestic wind generators, and some other green ‘start-ups’. The
group owns the football club Forest Green Rovers. At times, his businesses have run into
financial difficulties. Following Covid, there was a real risk that they would not survive,
until the sale of the Electric Highway in 2021 led to a very significant cash injection.
Currently, the single joint expert, Sarah Middleton of PWC, values the husband’s business
interests at £153.5m pre-tax, and after a number of significant political and charitable
donations which have recently been made. The husband has been politically active, and
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