B.C. court orders wealthy widow to pay “trophy husband” financial support

VANCOUVER – A former world-class figure skater, model and wealthy widow has been ordered by a British Columbia court to pay her so-called “trophy husband” more than $157,000 in support after a 14-year relationship.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Randall Wong ruled that 66-year-old Gordon Walker was the spouse of 86-year-old Valerie Fortune Brown and is entitled to support as a result.

The court heard the relationship between the two ended in January 2012 after Brown became concerned Walker was abusing his credit card and secretly withdrawing cash from a joint bank account.

Wong says that during the relationship Brown covered all of the couple’s living expenses, paid for about 60 trips around the world and even gave Walker pocket money every month.

Wong also issued a permanent restraining order against Walker because of letters the man wrote to Brown’s legal counsel, threatening to write his memoirs about their sexual experiences.

The judge’s ruling describes Brown as a world-class figure skating champion who also was employed as a model, and Walker as a Grade 12 graduate and former bookkeeper, clerk, dispatcher and sales executive.