The Evidence of Mr SB
83.SB runs a property business. He lives close to DS. He shares a Greek heritage with H. He was at one stage a good friend of both W and H but it was plain to me that notwithstanding his description of himself as a good friend of both parties, he is now far closer to H than to W.84.It was SB who introduced H to Mr C as the two of them had worked together on several previous transactions. He said that it was he who told Mr C that the money was a gift from W’s brother and emailed him to that effect, but it does not matter whether it was him or H. It was through him that communications between XYZ and the family went.85.SB says that H never took a financial step without consulting W. Whether in fact H did consult W would have been something of which SB would have been unlikely to have had direct knowledge. It was not explained why it was that SB was quite so involved in the transaction, why he attended meetings with H with solicitors and why he twice went to the accountants with H. It is not as though H is any less capable than W. H is a graduate of the same university as W and plainly intelligent. 86.There is a dispute between the parties about the witnessing of documents, including whether W’s signature was actually witnessed by SB and also whether the nanny, from whom I did not hear, witnessed the signature of one document. I do not regard this as a dispute that needs to be resolved and nor do I have any reliable evidence upon which I can do so.87.It was SB, he said, who told Mr C about how the transaction was to be financed and, in whose name, or names it was to be in. 88.SB plainly bore a degree of animosity towards B and W. He commenced his evidence with an uninvited and curious complaint about their absence from the court room. He feels misused by B by reason of B’s failure to complete at least one particular transaction which he had negotiated with much endeavour for B. As a close friend of H, who has been very distressed at the course that the family proceedings have taken, it would not be surprising if he felt partisan.89.I reject his account of him very frequently, several times a week, bumping into W in or around DS during this period. W’s presence in London between July 2019 – February 2020 was no more than a matter of a few weeks in aggregate.90.He has never spoken to B or W about the matters in issue and I do not accept that he has any source of information about them other than from H. His evidence did not assist significantly with the matters I have to determine.