A landed millionaire is fighting to stay in his family home after his wife said living with him was making her ill.

Anthony Arbuthnot Watkins Grubb is bidding to appeal against a judge’s order he should leave Mayes House in East Grinstead following his divorce in July.

A Court heard he had refused to accept the end of his 23-year marriage to his wife, Jennifer.

The bitter battle is being aired in the Court of Appeal as Mr Grubb, also known as Tony, bids to overturn the ruling kicking him out of the home once lived in by his parents.

The 59-year-old has been allowed to stay at Mayes House while his appeal bid goes through.

Mrs Grubb, 53, told the divorce hearing: “I feel like I am being shredded.

“I’m absolutely torn down the middle by it all.”

Her barrister, James Turner QC, said: “As a result of her husband’s behaviour her health had suffered and will continue to suffer while he remains under the same roof.

"It was the case of Mrs Grubb that her husband was an emotional bully, who had been obsessively and inappropriately controlling of her and the five children of the family.

"He was simply unable to accept the self-evident fact that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and found it impossible to restrain himself from pestering while they remained under the same roof".

Mrs Grubb claimed her husband had constantly criticised her and pestered her into post-nuptial agreements when the marriage hit the rocks.

Her QC also claimed Mr Grubb had sometimes verbally abused his wife, could be "domineering and controlling" and had tried to impose "extremely prescriptive household rules and regulations" on his family.

Nicholas Cusworth QC, for Mr Grubb, attacked his ousting from the family home as "Draconian".

He told the court that Mrs Grubb had never had any cause to be in fear of her husband, who had not been violent towards her, and attacked his exclusion from his own home as an exercise in "housing policy for the wealthy".

He said the atmosphere in the house was no different than in many other divorce-hit homes and "family dysfunction" was not a good enough reason for excluding Mr Grubb from the home once lived in by his parents.

He argued the divorce judge had not considered "reallocating accommodation" within "very large" Mayes House, which would enable the whole family to continue living there.

Lord Justice Wilson is expected to rule this week on whether Mr Grubbs should be permitted to appeal against the decision.