HEAVYWEIGHT financial adviser Richard Skerritt has finally met his match in a boardroom bust-up.

Smashed walls, flying bricks and clouds of dust meant a multi-million pound investment deal under discussion at Skerritts Wealth Management in Brighton and Hove had to be postponed.

The 6ft 5ins amateur boxer said: “There was no shouting and table-thumping, just the pitiful “meow” of a cat trapped in the three-inch gap between our outside boardroom wall and a neighbour’s wall.

“I’m no cat lover but my team insisted on calling in the RSPCA and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to free Albus, a neighbour’s three-year-old tabby cat.”

Four hours later, firefighters took out a final brick from the wall and grabbed the terrified, but relieved, cat.

Although the cat has probably used up eight of its nine lives, owner Lucy Hartwell is a vet and was able to give Albus all the TLC he needed to make a full recovery.

And on Wednesday Lucy and Albus returned to Skerritts Wealth Management in Coleridge Road to thank the 50-strong financial team for saving her cat’s life.

Richard Skerritt showed Lucy the firemen’s handiwork while Albus inspected the hole that had witnessed his nightmare incarceration.

He said: “It’s not every day that a high-level financial meeting gets postponed by a cat and five firemen but that’s part of the fun of being based in Brighton.

“Nothing surprises me in this fantastic city.”

Skerritts Wealth Management is an independent family-run business with offices in Hove, Worthing and London.

It has a 50-strong team and looks after the individual and diverse needs of 27,000 clients around the UK.

The company provides financial planning and investment advice to high net-worth individuals, directors and trustees, and to companies and their hard-working staff.

The firm’s head office is in Coleridge Street, Hove, with a second office in the City of London and a third in Worthing.

The firm is celebrating 25 years in business.