Lonely lord fights £1m demand

David Piper: Shock at tax demand

A Devon lord of the manor, who placed an ad for a lady, is to contest a £1m tax demand.

The Lord of Warleigh, David Piper, 53, said he was "just flabbergasted" when he got the £1,003,000 demand just before Christmas.

Mr Piper - still looking for a lady - said he could not possibly have earned such a sum.

"If I had, I would not have an overdraft, would I," he said from his home in Plymouth, Devon.

He said his accountant would be challenging the demand.

Search continues

Mr Piper earlier this year sold the 71-room Warleigh Mansion, near Plymouth, and 105 of its 111 acres, for an undisclosed sum.

From his waterfront Wiltun Hotel on Plymouth Hoe, he said his search for a lady was continuing.

The advert Mr Piper put in the International Herald Tribune last year attracted responses from 1,300 women from around the world.

Romance failed to blossom with Rosaura Cappelleri, a 32-year-old real estate agent who sold her home in the United States to move to Devon in order to meet him.

His aims for 2004 are to clear his overdraft and hopefully settle down with "the love of his life."