UK mortgages: trial to rule on deals that left people with huge debts

Decades after shared appreciation mortgage launch, case brought by law firm due to reach high court

It was one of a list of millennium products" lauded by the then prime minister, Tony Blair, as an example of the very best of British innovation, creativity and design".

But, almost 25 years later, the shared appreciation mortgage (Sam) is effectively going on trial at the high court, accused of ruining lives and leaving some people owing 10 or 12 times the sum they originally borrowed.