The former owners of a Devon hotel have been awarded just £5 in damages following a ten year legal battle to prove their business was ruined by the negligence of their solicitor.

Stuart and Susan Veitch had lost their hotel, Dunsford Mill, Dartmoor, when it was re possessed by the bank over a £330,000 debt.

They claimed that they had been wrongly advised by their solicitor who told them they had no defence to the repossession action.

A series of legal battles has now culminated in a Court of Appeal ruling where it was decided that though the solicitor made an error the hotel was already failing as a business venture.

The couple now a face massive legal bill thought to stand at more than £10,000.

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By Andrew Smith

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