A family man, ruined by a disastrous hotel venture, has won the right to compensation from solicitors after a landmark Appeal Court ruling.

Leonard Longstaff, 54, and his wife Patricia, who died last year, lost their £50,000 life savings when they ploughed them into the loss-making Castle Hotel, at Brough, near Kirkby Stephen.

They were left destitute and jobless.

Now, more than a decade after the disastrous business decision, Mr Longstaff has won the right to substantial compensation from Kirkby Stephen-based solicitors, Michael and Peter Birtles.

Three Appeal Court judges ruled in London that the Birtles brothers, who are partners in the firm of Hewitson and Harker, had been rightly cleared of negligence and other allegations levelled against them.

However, the court held that they had nevertheless breached the duty they owed Mr and Mrs Longstaff by failing to arrange independent legal advice for them before they embarked on the Castle Hotel venture.

The solicitors, who were also partners in the hotel, had breached "the duty of trust and confidence" they owed to the couple and were liable to pay "equitable compensation", said Lord Justice Mummery.

Unless settlement terms are agreed in the meantime, Mr Longstaff's pay-out will have to be assessed at another court hearing.

Mr Longstaff said after the ruling that he had "no idea" how much he would be awarded, but added he would be claiming back the cash he invested in the hotel and compensation for years of lost earnings.

Mr Longstaff, who now lives at West Auckland, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, said: "Obviously I'm over the moon.

This case has been going on for nearly 11 years."

He added he was only sad that his wife, who died in October last year, aged 54, had not survived to hear the court's decision.

Lord Justice Mummery said: "This case powerfully demonstrates the importance of the paramount duty of a solicitor to observe fiduciary obligations in his personal dealings with a client and even with a former client."

Mr Longstaff retired from his post as an executive officer with the Department of Employment in 1984 and he and his wife moved to Blackpool where they ran a guest house for a while.

But in 1987 they decided they would rather run a place in the country and moved to Kirkby Stephen with £58,000 in their pockets.

Mr and Mrs Longstaff agreed to put up £40,000 for a half share of the hotel partnership.

They managed it in return for a salary and a half-share of profits.

But business tailed off by the winter of 1989/90 and a decision was made to sell the hotel for £450,000, but nobody wanted to buy it.

The Longstaffs moved out of the hotel and, although they carried on running it for a little longer, the partnership was finally dissolved in December 1990.

By then the couple's money had all gone and they were unemployed and destitute.