Earl's descendent jailed in family estate row

The descendent of an Irish earl was jailed today after a fallout with her brother and sister over the rights to property from…

The descendent of an Irish earl was jailed today after a fallout with her brother and sister over the rights to property from the family mansion in Co Down.

Mrs Marion Scarlett Needham Russell (33) was starting 14 days in Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, after being held in contempt of court after refusing to obey a Northern Ireland High Court order to return to her family antiques worth some £250,000 sterling.

Mrs Russell's date with a prison cell was confirmed yesterday when she refused a final chance by a judge to surrender 28 items, which she took from the family home in Kilkeel, to her brother and sister.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed today that Mrs Russell had gone to Kilkeel police station in Co Down with her solicitor by arrangement at lunchtime to be arrested.

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From there Mrs Russell, relative of former Tory MP and long-serving Northern Ireland Minister, Mr Richard Needham, was taken to the top security prison outside Lisburn.

Although she has been jailed for 14 days she is due to go before the High Court again next week.

The application to have her committed to prison was made by lawyers acting for her sister, Mrs Debonair Norah Needham Horsman, of Banbridge, Co Down and her brother, Mr Philip James Anley, of Mourne Park in Kilkeel.

The court action was the culmination of a ten-year family battle over the future of the Mourne Park House estate in Kilkeel and whether it should be kept private or opened to the public.

The three siblings each own a third of the property. Mrs Needham said her father, who died of cancer at the age of 48 ten years ago, had wanted her to develop it and make it self-supporting.

PA