Revealed: Mistress who kept vigil at Pink Floyd manager's deathbed - but only when wife wasn't there

y when wife wasn't there

By Angella Johnson and Alexis Parr

Last updated at 9:01 AM on 5th October 2008

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It was a situation that required great diplomacy, tact and timing.
Fortunately, staff at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, where former pink floyd manager Bryan Morrison had lain in a coma for two years after a polo accident, had grown to understand the delicate manoeuvrings surrounding his complicated domestic situation.
They learned very quickly to accommodate the two women vying for the position as Mr Morrison’s official partner and even helped to choreograph their respective bedside vigils.

Wife and lover: Greta Morrison (left) and Bryan's mistress Siobhan Barney

On prearranged days, the stricken multi-millionaire owner of the Royal Berkshire Polo Club was visited by his devoted wife of 34 years, Greta.
An elegant Chanel-clad blonde, who retains the enviable willowy shape of her former modelling years, the 62-year-old spent hours playing tapes of her husband’s favourite music and reminiscing about their life together, in the vain hope of bringing him around.

On other days, Greta would be missing from her  usual position in the £744-a-night private room, replaced by a much younger woman – a striking brunette who, for at least a year before Mr Morrison’s accident, had been his mistress. It was, everyone agreed, a very unusual set-up.
Siobhan Barney, 42, a steely-eyed businesswoman who owns a marketing company in London, had no legal rights to be with her unconscious lover.
But she had fought determinedly for what she saw as her rightful place at his bedside.
Greta, it seems, agreed to the arrangement only after a particularly unseemly confrontation soon after Mr Morrison was admitted to the hospital and she came face to face with her rival.
One friend said: ‘Greta was devastated. She realised that Siobhan, who is a much tougher cookie, was going to be trouble and wanted to avoid any further unpleasant contact with her.’
A civilised compromise was reached whereby the women agreed on a rota to share bedside duties.
And even when Mr Morrison was moved to a nursing home nearer to the family home in Berkshire, staff were instructed to treat Miss Barney as a member of the family, and allow her full access to him.
And so it remained – until a little more than a week ago when the flamboyant 66-year-old businessman died from a virus.
The fact that he never regained consciousness after the accident in which he was thrown from his polo pony and landed on his head left Greta and the couple’s two children, Jamie, a 31-year-old professional polo player, and Karina, 28, a documentary film-maker, in financial and emotional turmoil.
Not only were they left without Mr Morrison’s strong guiding presence, but his incapacity also led to court-appointed representatives stepping in to sort out his many business interests.
Assuming power of attorney, they started to liquidate some of his assets.
Mr Morrison’s  polo club, which boasts the Prince of Wales as one of the first members (he is now an honorary life member) was put on the market for £12million.
Holyport Real Tennis Club, in Maidenhead, in which Mr Morrison had a stake, was sold for £500,000.
The family’s magnificent 10-bedroom mansion, Bartlett House, near Maidenhead, is on offer for £6million.

Tribute: How The Mail on Sunday reported Morrison's death last week

Mr Morrison’s death has freed the family from the court’s administration and it is believed that Jamie, who now runs the polo club, is keen to keep it going.
For Greta, her husband’s passing has also brought to a head the fact that there were, as the saying goes, three people in their marriage.
Another family friend said: ‘Greta always knew that Bryan had a roving eye and, because of his wealth, was a target for any ambitious young woman looking to break into his world of high society and celebrity.
'She knew that he had occasionally strayed but Siobhan was a different proposition. The affair had become an open secret among their set.
'Bryan didn’t actually flaunt it before Greta but he was very indiscreet. Greta felt humiliated. She loved him very much and she found it heartbreaking.
'It was also clear that Siobhan was angling to become a permanent fixture and it is to Greta’s credit that she behaved with such dignity while Bryan was in hospital.
‘I don’t know many women who would have given a mistress such leeway but, then again, she has always been very pragmatic.’
So long as there was some hope that her husband might regain consciousness, Greta had the good sense to avoid open warfare with her younger rival.
But now it seems that the gloves are off and Greta’s family and friends will close ranks on Siobhan after Tuesday’s funeral.
It is the way of self-made men like Mr Morrison to live life on their terms. But such macho buccaneering ultimately came at great expense to the two women who had loved him dearly.
His infidelity brought his wife great emotional pain, while his death left his mistress bereft of the financial security he had undoubtedly promised.
So how did an East End Jewish accountant’s son, who had amassed a £90million fortune as a rock band manager and music publisher (he controlled the sale of music by Elton John, the Bee Gees, The Jam and Wham!), end up in such an unseemly menage-a-trois?
Perhaps the answer is self-evident. Mr Morrison was not just immensely rich; he was a colourful and charming man, with an enormous appetite for life – and, of course, a roving eye.
Greta could be described as his trophy wife, a Canadian beauty who was a top model when they met at a society party in the early Seventies.
‘They made a striking couple,’ says one close friend, who had known them since they met.
‘Bryan was tall, handsome, extremely confident and had tremendous presence. But he was always too much for her.
'Greta was a very pretty woman and a wonderful hostess  but it seems that she was always trying to keep up with him.
‘He was quite a handful. Bryan enjoyed being Bryan Morrison and all the trappings that went with his money and social position.
'I remember bumping into him one day outside Jack Barclay’s car showroom in Berkeley Square, where he was picking up a brand new Bentley. He was dressed, as usual, immaculately and expensively in a polo shirt with collar up, a bespoke jacket and handmade shoes.
‘He seemed very pleased with himself. Chomping, as was his habit, on a fat cigar, he pointed proudly at the gleaming vehicle and in a booming voice, gleefully said, “What’s the point of having money if you don’t spend it.”
'In many ways, he was an unabashed caricature of the pompous, flashy tycoon.
‘He was also as randy as a tom cat and once even made a pass at my wife. Of course, I didn’t take offence. He just couldn’t help himself.
'Greta was much quieter. I don’t think she ever looked at another man. Bryan was the love of her life.
‘He and the children were her whole world. Unfortunately, she seemed to spend most of her time looking out to see which nubile young thing would catch his fancy. She had her work cut out, especially after he set up the polo club.
‘Glamorous women flocked around him. Siobhan was one of those girls desperate to break into the polo world. She had been taking lessons at the Berkshire club, which were very expensive.
'She made a beeline for him one afternoon during a game. He welcomed the attention. It was a case of intention meeting opportunity.
‘Both went into the affair wholeheartedly. I met them together on numerous occasions and they were definitely an item.
'She clearly adored him and, like any middle-aged man, he enjoyed his reflection through her eyes.’
Mr Morrison divided his time between his wife and his lover for more than four years. It was, says the friend, something that caused Greta great unhappiness and a fair amount of frustration for his mistress.
The friend added: ‘A few years ago at one of the Christmas parties in the clubhouse there was a terrible scene when Siobhan stormed up to Bryan and Greta’s table and was shouting and swearing, “Why am I on such a f***ing terrible table? It’s a f***ing disgrace.”
‘It was so embarrassing. But Bryan just said, “I’m sorry." None of Greta’s friends understood why she put up with it for so long. She is such a lovely, gentle lady.’
But Greta was playing the long game. She had seen off other potential usurpers in the past and once described her role as ‘one of support.
'As long as I’ve got everything organised then life is very peaceful. The minute I haven’t he gets crazy.’
She gave up modelling after their marriage because Bryan resented it.
‘He loved the idea in theory,’ she once explained. ‘But not when he was confronted by the fact that there was no one there to do anything for him.
'The secret of a happy marriage is friendship. And you have to keep your mouth shut at the right time. I never argue back. You should always know what your husband’s weaknesses are and then never touch on them.
‘For your own sake, apart from anything else, you maintain peace and harmony. I know that this goes against women’s liberation  but this way I get what I want.’
There were, however, times when even Greta’s ice-coolness was tested to the limit.
Once, according to a former member of the polo club, Siobhan tried to elbow her way into the club to use the facilities. Greta angrily gave orders for her to be barred.
The former member said: ‘Afterwards Siobhan, as bold as brass, phoned Greta to protest and said, “Let’s be realistic Greta. I am his girlfriend."
'Greta was flabbergasted at her shamelessness. She was not even a member.’
Mr Morrison must have known of these clashes. Yet, ultimately, he was not prepared to choose between the women.
Those in the know say that while he was clearly smitten with Siobhan, he would never have left the mother of his children.
‘He was a family man to the bone,’ said a fellow polo player and friend. ‘As long as Greta was willing to turn a blind eye, things would probably not have changed.’
Although Siobhan has never commented publicly on the affair, she confirmed last week that she and Mr Morrison had been together for some time.
‘Bryan was a wonderful man who will be greatly missed,’ she said. ‘I won’t go into the ins and outs of our relationship but there’s been a lot of rubbish written about me.
‘I’m not a scarlet woman and I was never after his money. I run my own business and the kind of things being printed are beginning to have a bad effect on how I earn my living.’
As a matter of courtesy, Siobhan has been invited to attend the private funeral service near the family home on Tuesday.
Sources close to the family say, however, that she is not expected to be at a planned musical tribute at the polo club.
For a man like Mr Morrison, who so assiduously controlled all aspects of his life, it is ironic that his fatal accident left so much unfinished business between the two women with whom he shared his final years.
Both staked a claim but in the end, it was the long-suffering Greta who held the moral high ground.