BBC boss, 57, loses divorce court battle to slash her ex-husband’s share of their £2million fortune

A senior BBC producer today lost a court battle to cut her unemployed former husband’s share of their £2million fortune.

Tessa Finch, who founded The One Show and has earned £160,000-a-year as Head of Development at the corporation, separated from Barry Baker between 2012 and 2013.

London‘s Civil Appeal Court heard that Mr Baker, 69, had ‘not worked for some time’ and had run up £66,000 worth of debts – while Ms Finch accumulated a substantial BBC pension valued by a court at £2million.

During divorce proceedings, Mr Baker was awarded a £733,650 sum of the couple’s assets and was even handed a one-third share of Ms Finch’s pension.

Though Ms Finch, 57, retained £1.58million in assets and two-thirds of her pension, she decided to challenge the size of the payout in the Court of Appeal. 

Her lawyers told Lord Justice Moylan that Mr Baker had made a ‘significantly negative’ contribution to the family fortune during the marriage, and claimed he should not have got the payout that he did.

But Lord Justice Moylan, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Nugee, today threw out the challenge, upholding an earlier ruling that the £733,650 and pension share would meet Mr Baker’s ‘needs’. 

London's Civil Appeal Court heard that Mr Baker had 'not worked for some time' and had run up £66,000 worth of debts - while Ms Finch accumulated a £2million BBC pension

Tessa Finch, who founded The One Show and has earned £160,000-a-year as Head of Development at the corporation, separated from Barry Baker in 2012-13

London's Civil Appeal Court heard that Mr Baker had 'not worked for some time' and had run up £66,000 worth of debts - while Ms Finch accumulated a £2million BBC pension

London’s Civil Appeal Court heard that Mr Baker had ‘not worked for some time’ and had run up £66,000 worth of debts – while Ms Finch accumulated a £2million BBC pension

Tessa Finch: High-flying BBC executive who went from local news reporter to launching The One Show 

Tessa Finch is a high-flying BBC broadcasting executive.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she is a ‘multi-award winning TV programme maker, commissioner and creative leader, currently Head of Development for BBC TV Productions’.

She began her career as a writer for the Cable TV Guide before joining the Mid Somerset Newspaper Group as a newspaper reporter in 1986.

A year later, Ms Finch joined the news desk at the Daily Express and went on to find employment at the BBC in 1992.

She worked her way up BBC Television before founding the popular BBC1 series The One Show in 2006.

In 2010, Ms Finch became Head of Development at BBC TV Productions and earned around £160,000 per year as of September 2017 filings. 

The judge said the couple met in 1990, started living together in 1991 and married in 1993. They had two children and separated in 2012-13 when Mr Baker left the former matrimonial home.

Ms Finch and their children continued to live there but by the time their fight over money came before a divorce judge, the husband was living as a lodger in a friend’s home.

‘The husband has not sought to have any real contact with the children since the separation,’ said Lord Justice Moylan.

‘The wife has, for many years, worked for the BBC. The husband has not worked for some time. The extent to which he was employed during the marriage was an issue between the parties,’ he added.

In the Family Court in Bristol in November last year, Judge Richard Bromilow handed Mr Baker the £733,650 sum plus the share of his ex-wife’s pension.

Their fortune consisted mainly of the former matrimonial home, a string of investment properties and Ms Finch’s pension.

That sum was less than that Mr Baker received at an initial divorce hearing before Judge Myles Watkins in January 2019, where Mr Baker had been given £814,000 and 48.6 per cent of the pension. This was successfully reduced by Ms Finch’s legal team.

The broadcasting executive’s lawyers argued before the Court of Appeal that the financial split made by Judge Bromilow was still unfair, calling the ruling ‘seriously flawed and wrong’.

Ms Finch’s lawyer criticised Mr Baker’s conduct, saying he had made a ‘significantly negative’ contribution to the couple’s fortunes.

But Lord Justice Moylan upheld an earlier ruling that the husband had in fact made ‘a modest contribution’ and that the ‘conduct’ on his part that his ex complained about was ‘not a relevant issue’ in splitting up their fortune.  

The Court of Appeal threw out Ms Finch's bid to slash her ex-husband's large payout

The Court of Appeal threw out Ms Finch’s bid to slash her ex-husband’s large payout

He said: ‘All the parties’ non-pension assets were matrimonial property… [and] the wife’s BBC pension was generated during the marriage.

‘A significant departure from equality was justified to enable both parties to meet their needs. All the assets in this case comprised marital property.

‘Once Judge Watkins had determined that conduct was not a relevant issue, the determinative principle in this case was that of needs, not sharing.

‘It is clear that the assets were no more than sufficient to meet the financial needs of the parties and the children.

‘Accordingly, I reject the wife’s contention that the judge’s evaluation of the parties’ respective needs and the net effect of his order were flawed.

‘The judge’s assessment of the husband’s capital and income needs was one which was plainly open to him.

‘The judge can be seen to have considered the wife’s housing and income needs and determined that she would have sufficient resources to meet them,’ he concluded.