Farmer's companion gets £250,000

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A woman who spent nearly 30 years with an older farmer after becoming his lover as a teenager has been awarded £250,000 to buy a house and land.

Anne Mulholland, 49, from Ballycastle, won her case over claims that Seamus Kane promised she would always have a roof over her head.

A judge at Northern Ireland's High Court ruled she should be paid out of an estate valued at more than £800,000.

He said Ms Mulholland "sacrificed any chance of marriage" to be with him.

Mr Kane died in 2004 without making a will and Mr Justice Deeny described his "inertia and failure" to ensure Ms Mulholland was provided for as "unconscionable".

"I find that she cared for him without remuneration," he said.

"I find that he enjoyed a long relationship, beneficial to him of both a physical and social kind, with a youthful and devoted companion for approaching 30 years."

The affair, which was to last for the rest of Mr Kane's life, began after Ms Mulholland left school aged 16.

At that time he was a bachelor in his early 40s and she was already helping during the lambing season at his 490-acre farm near the County Antrim seaside town, Ms Mulholland told the court.

The deceased spoke of Anne's working capacities with praise, saying that she was as good as any two men Mr Justice Deeny

She said that while still a teenager, she had pledged to Mr Kane to always be there to look after him.

At no stage was the affair discussed or admitted to Mr Kane's sister Maureen who, along with her other brother John, were the beneficiaries of the estate and defendants in the action.

The judge commented that it was never publicly acknowledged as others would have regarded the couple as "living in sin" at the home on Ballyvennaught Road.

Two of Mr Kane's friends testified that Ms Mulholland was regularly at the house when they went up for a drink or game of cards.

One of them, Vincent McHenry, described the farmer as a "big, rough-looking man who was used to getting his own way but was a decent man a lot of the time".

Another witness, Patrick McCarry, 77, said he had known Ms Mulholland was helping out Mr Kane, particularly after a hip operation.

Recalling his evidence, Mr Justice Deeny said "a lot of people around the parish were talking about the relationship between the deceased and Anne".

No washing machine

"The deceased spoke of Anne's working capacities with praise, saying that she was as good as any two men," the judge said.

Ms Kane, a retired civil servant, told the court she would wash and mend her brother's clothes. Despite having 490 acres of land he did not own a washing machine.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Deeny held that Mr Kane created and encouraged an expectation by Ms Mulholland that she would have a house and a few acres of land in return for her care of, work for and relationship with him.

"In committing herself to that relationship she effectively debarred herself from prospects of marriage or lifelong partnership with other men in the district to her own detriment," he said.

"I consider that if Seamus Kane in his own lifetime had cast her out in her 40s without honouring the promises he had made that would have been an unconscionable act condemned by all right-thinking persons.

"I consider that would be the case whether they were judging the matter by contemporary or more traditional moral values."

He gave the defendants further time to call any valuation evidence if the scale of the pay-out is to be disputed.