Dr Lanny Bezant was sacked at the same time as her husband Richard by Professor Hans Rausing - number two in the Sunday Times Rich List 2002, with a reported personal fortune of �4.5bn.

The pair, from Tenterden in Kent, were summoned to Professor Rausing's estate in Wadhurst, East Sussex, in September 2000 and were fired on the spot.

Dr Bezant was employed as marketing director for Wadhurst Park Estates, while her husband had been managing director of the estate for 22 years.

'Inconsistencies' in case

On Tuesday, the couple appeared at an Employment Appeal Tribunal in London to appeal against the findings of a hearing held in Ashford, Kent, in September 2001.

They argued there had been "inconsistencies" in the case brought by lawyers acting for Professor Rausing.

The pair failed to win that tribunal against the professor alleging unfair dismissal because, it was claimed at the time, Mr Bezant had "fiddled his expenses" and filled in incorrect tax returns.

As a result, the Ashford tribunal ruled that there had been an illegality - so the couple's claims for unfair dismissal could not be heard.

'Cloud cast on lives'

But on Tuesday, Mr Bezant asked the tribunal why, if that was the case, he had not been prosecuted by the Inland Revenue.

He said the whole case against them was a "fiction" and the strain on him and his wife of fighting the case had "cast a cloud over their whole lives".

But the president of the appeal tribunal, Mr Justice Burton, told Mr Bezant the couple's case had been undermined by their admission that they had not declared some benefits in kind to the Inland Revenue.

It took the appeal tribunal just 10 minutes to rule against the Bezants, who have vowed to fight on and possibly take their case to the Court of Appeal.

Dr Bezant said afterwards: "We feel that justice has not been done.

'Wrong has been done'

"As usual the law has obstructed itself against truth and justice instead of helping itself along.

"We will never ever give up, even if it takes 15 or 20 years, because a wrong has been done to us and we are determined to have that wrong rectified."

In September 2002, Dr Bezant was awarded almost �160,000 in compensation after Wadhurst Park Estates conceded she had been sexually discriminated against by being sacked because she was Mr Bezant's wife.

The firm - now called Tertiary Enterprises Ltd - has not yet handed over any of the money because it is in liquidation.

The Bezants still live on the farm where they carried out their work for Professor Rausing and say they cannot be evicted because of an act of parliament protecting farm tenants.

Professor Rausing made his fortune by selling the family stake in food packaging company Tetra Laval, credited with designing the original supermarket milk carton under the name Tetrapak.