A helicopter pilot who barricaded himself in the home he had lost in his £6m divorce will be jailed if he does not get out by next week.

Peter Elliott, 49, has fought a four-year battle with his ex-wife, Leonie Butler, 45, over his £500,000 farm in the Eden Valley.

Despite a judge's order that he should get out so it can be sold, he has refused to leave, has put barbed wire around it and allegedly thrown rocks at bailiffs.

Today, top judges said he had made it clear he would never abide by the order after he promised he would only leave in a "body bag".

Confirming a six-month prison sentence, due to start next Thursday if he doesn't get out, Lady Justice Macur said that Mr Elliott was clearly in contempt of court.

Although he had briefly left the property in 2012, he had returned and refused all attempts to get him out. Giving judgment, Lady Justice Macur said: "He is defying the order of the court.

"Whatever his mental health issues, he has formed a view that he will deny the order of the court.

"He has, once dispossessed, resumed possession and does so in defiance of anyone who attempts to remove him.

"However mistaken his assertion of righteousness of remaining in the property, he had formed a view that he would defy the order and had done so for a considerable period."

The Court of Appeal heard Mr Elliott, formerly a £96,000-a-year pilot for Stobart chief Andrew Tinkler, was first ordered out in 2012.

It was part of a divorce which was supposed to result in the couple's assets being split equally, with sale proceeds of the house due to pay off their debts.

What followed was a "long-running saga", with numerous court hearings up and down the country, the judge said.

Mr Elliott insists he should be allowed to stay at Pinewood House, his home on a 70-acre farm near Appleby. He has threatened self-harm, and even suicide, if he is forcibly removed.

During a previous Court of Appeal hearing, he claimed to have been left with "no life, no job and no future" by the order to get out.

He said: "My ex-wife has taken literally everything from me. She has her job, her career, her pension, her lifestyle and now all my houses," he said.

"This is a death sentence for me."

Mr Elliott was not in court for today's appeal, but his lawyer Usha Sood argued that he suffers from mental health problems which had not been properly considered.

She said it was doubtful whether he could be in "knowing and wilful breach" of the order, given his difficulties.

And a six-month prison sentence, albeit suspended by Mr Justice Moylan last month, was arguably wrong for a person like Mr Elliott.

"I totally accept that the opportunity was given to him to vacate," she said.

"I represent a man who the entire history of this shows has his mind on one thing - and that is remaining in occupation regardless.

"He is unable to be swayed about that by anyone or anything. That's the situation that faces Mrs Butler.

"What I am saying is that the sanction that was used was not a sanction that was reasonable or proportionate."

Giving judgment, Lady Justice Macur, sitting with Lord Justice David Richards, rejected Mr Elliott's appeal.

Mrs Butler had been striving for more than three-and-a-half years for the sale of Pinewood House, which was "her right", said the judge.

In ordering his committal to prison, Mr Justice Moylan had considered all the "available options" and decided he had "no choice" but to impose the sentence.

She added: "Mr Justice Moylan quite clearly took into account Mr Elliott's particular difficulties, but nevertheless formed the view that he was capable of forming a decision as to his continuing occupation of the property."

Mrs Butler was not in court for the hearing.