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The High Court has severely reprimanded a wife in divorce proceedings for hacking into her former husband's computer and stealing some 20,000 documents from him.

Whilst her behaviour was condemned however, the judge explained to Vivian Imerman, the former owner of Del Monte Foods, that it was too late to prevent the documents being used by his wife in their divorce proceedings.

It is thought that the couple's case will go to trial next year, when Mr Imerman and his wife, Lisa Tchenguiz, will be arguing over the extent to which she should be entitled to a share of his £300 million fortune.

Mrs Tchenguiz's brothers-in-law, Vincent and Robert, both property magnets, shared a Mayfair office with their brother-in-law and downloaded the confidential documents from his computer after learning of the difficulties their sister was having in her marriage. Robert Tchenquiz said that he ordered his IT staff to hack into the computer since he thought Mr Imerman would try and hide his fortune. Mr Imerman had already confirmed to the Court that he would provide full disclosure.

Although Mrs Tchenguiz and her brothers were ordered to pay over £1million in costs, Mr Justice Moylan allowed Mrs Tchenguiz to keep the documents because she had seen them and thus, it was too late to stop her using them.

Andrew Barton, a solicitor at Stephens Scown commented, "We are seeing an increasing number of cases where highly personal and confidential information has been kept on the home computer during the marriage. This very often includes bank account information such as passwords and username details for internet banking. This is tantamount to leaving a blank cheque on the hall table, and extreme caution should be taken to ensure this sort of information is not readily accessible."

He went on, "Although in this case, Mrs Tchenguiz was admonished for her conduct, the Court was obviously unable to make her forget what she had seen in the paperwork. This is the exception however and not the rule. Self-help disclosure of this nature is fraught with problems, in that it is likely to encourage a vindictive response by the other party, increase costs and make the chances of settlement far less likely. It is vital that good legal advice is sought before any enquiries of this nature are pursued. There are specific and detailed rules of disclosure that must be followed in any case"

Andrew is an Associate Solicitor in the Stephens Scown family law team, which is top ranked in the independent Chambers and Legal 500 guides to the legal profession. Andrew is a Resolution Accredited Specialist in complicated financial matters arising from divorce and has particular experience in dealing with international divorce issues.