Peer's brother back in court

The brother of Labour peer Baroness Scotland, who lost his house to pay legal bills, is back in court in a long-running wrangle with his neighbour.

Barrymore Scotland was awarded £1,000 in the 1990s for damage done to his house in Ilford, Essex, when the next-door property was converted into a surgery.

But he was ordered to pay neighbour Dr Winston Solomon's £40,000 legal costs.

When he did not pay, a judge ordered the house to be sold to pay the bills, and it was seized.

'Inflated' claim

Mr Scotland is now claiming £70,000 damages against Dr Solomon and his wife Shalina for removing his possessions.

He said he was not given a chance to clear all his possessions from his former home, and said they had been unlawfully seized and disposed of.

At the High Court on Thursday Deputy Judge David Kitchin QC said he had "considerable sympathy" with the Solomons' claim that Mr Scotland was pursuing the action only to subject them to harassment.

But he struck out the Solomons' appeal that they had no case to answer.

Although Mr Scotland's claim was "grossly inflated" it was impossible to say that the goods left at the house had no value, he ruled.

Parliamentary secretary

The judge concluded there was an issue to go to trial, which would be heard at a later date at the Central London County Court.

Baroness Scotland was created a peer in 1997.

She was previously a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

She is member of the Bar of Antigua and the Commonwealth of Dominica, was appointed a Recorder in 2000 and is approved to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge of the Family Division.

She became a Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's department last year.