got a break from their marathon court battle.

Marion MacMillan, heiress to a US grain fortune, is fighting Canadian businessman Michael DeGroote over Perot's Island in Riddell's Bay.

The complex trial, which has already lasted a month, was adjourned yesterday and will start again on April 1. It is expected to be over by Easter.

Mr. DeGroote took Mrs. MacMillan to court after she backed out of an agreement to sell him the island for $8.5 million.

They have both now presented their cases. Now trial judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground will hear from the remaining parties in the trial, real estate firms Cooper Associates and the Bank of Butterfield Executor and Trustee Company (Betco).

Mr. Justice Ground rejected a plea from Betco's lawyer Mr. Mark Diel that certain allegations made as part of Mrs. MacMillan's case should be disallowed.

Mr. Diel said the allegations had not been backed by evidence.