THE WOMAN at the centre of Britain’s biggest divorce case was the victim of a harrowing robbery in which she was tied up and £300,000 worth of jewellery was stolen, it emerged last night.

Beverley Charman was faced with a raider wearing a balaclava and brandishing a gun at her £3m home on the outskirts of Sevenoaks in Kent on Friday. The white male forced her to open a safe and then tied her up and made his escape.

The 54-year-old “housewife” is locked in a bitter High Court battle with her former husband, the insurance tycoon John Charman, who is challenging a £48m settlement made last year, which was the largest divorce payment in British legal history.

Kent police believe the high profile of the case may have inspired the lone attacker to target the large family home situated down a gated private road, one of the most expensive in southeast England.

Friends of Charman last night confirmed she was suffering severe shock but had not been physically harmed. She was discovered by one of her sons when he returned home 20 minutes after the attack.

A police spokeswoman said: “Several hundred thousand pounds of jewellery was stolen in the incident and a safe was targeted.”

Charman was awarded £48m by the courts after she turned down a £20m settlement. However, the legal wrangle continued when her former husband challenged the payout in the Court of Appeal.

John Charman, 54, was said to be worth £113m at the time of their break up. He is known as the “king of the insurance market” after creating the international firm Axis. He now has a new girlfriend and lives in the US and Bermuda.

The burglary came days after Charman told the appeal court her former husband was seeking “one rule for the rich and one law for the poor” and their 27-year marriage should be considered by the court as a “partnership of equals.”

Times Recommends

• Don't despair: great players learn from defeat
• Pope clears way for Cardinal Newman sainthood
• Ecclestone: despots are underrated