Scrap king's son wins bitter High Court battle over late father's £4million ...

Scrap king's son wins bitter High Court battle over late father's £4million ...
Scrap king's son wins bitter High Court battle over late father's £4million ...

Gary Goodwin made the successful bid in the High Court over his late father Tom's (pictured) £4million fortune

Gary Goodwin made the successful bid in the High Court over his late father Tom's (pictured) £4million fortune

The son of a millionaire scrap tycoon has won a bitter battle over his father's will - despite plans for him to be cut out of it.

Gary Goodwin made the successful bid in the High Court over his late father Tom's £4million fortune.

Tom, who died in November 2018 aged 83, had been planning to write Gary out of any inheritance but died before any action was taken.

His estate was instead divided under the terms of a 2017 will, which made Gary his main heir.

The son received his father's beloved Rolls Royce, one of his farms and the reins to his business.

Tom had a keen business brain despite his 'limited ability to read and write' and built a multimillion-pound fortune, having started out with a scrapyard in Barnsley in 1967.

Over the following five decades the millionaire moved into farming as his wealth grew.

He married twice and had three children, all of whom he had serious fallings out with over the years.

Weeks before he died Tom had been planning to cut Gary out of the will but never got round to formalising it.

Instead his fortune will be divided up under the terms of a 2017 will, which made Gary his main heir.

His sister Jacqueline Avison and her daughter Nicola Smith argued the 2017 will was the result of pressure by Gary and a previous one made in 2005 should stand.

The old will would have meant Gary would get no more than his dad's beloved Rolls Royce.

But they dropped their case midway through the trial and Judge Malcolm Davis-White QC ruled the 2017 document was Tom's final will.

His fortune will be divided up under the terms of a 2017 will, which made Gary (pictured) his main heir

His sister Jacqueline Avison and her daughter Nicola Smith (pictured) argued the 2017 will was the result of pressure by Gary and a previous one made in 2005 should stand

His fortune will be divided up under the terms of a 2017 will, which made Gary (left) his main heir. His sister Jacqueline Avison and her daughter Nicola Smith (right) argued the 2017 will was the result of pressure by Gary and a previous one made in 2005 should stand

The reconciliation resulted in a new will in 2017, under which he got a lifetime interest in Santingley Grange (pictured), as well as the Rolls Royce and Pear Tree Farm

The reconciliation resulted in a new will in 2017, under which he got a lifetime interest in Santingley Grange (pictured), as well as the Rolls Royce and Pear Tree Farm

Giving judgment, he said claims the 2017 will was the result of fraud or pressure were groundless because Tom 'knew his own mind' and was not scared or overawed.

The court heard Tom had started off with a scrapyard in the 1960s, but moved into farming, buying two farms near Wakefield in 1997.

He had three children, Gary, 56, Jacqueline, 61, and Gillian, 59, all of whom he fell out with.

By the time he died in 2018 he was a grandfather-of-ten, most of whom had their own children.

The judge described Tom as 'wily' and 'someone who would often say one thing to one person and another thing to another person'.

The judge said: 'The breakdowns in relationships often seemed bitter and protracted. Tom would use strong language about persons he had fallen out with.

Tom had three children, Gary, 56, Jacqueline (pictured), 61, and Gillian, 59, all of whom he fell out with

Tom had three children, Gary, 56, Jacqueline (pictured), 61, and Gillian, 59, all of whom he fell out with

'On Tom's side these family breakdowns would often be characterised by a position taken by Tom that he would not give that person any of his property, whether inter vivos or by will on his death.'

He continued: 'He had a tendency to tell people things that they wanted to hear. I am also satisfied that he did not always tell the truth.

'He had a tendency to blame his falling out with members of his family as being down to their greed or the greed of persons connected to them.'

The judge said Tom sometimes 'made promises he did

read more from dailymail.....

NEXT In news vacuum, rumours and concern swirl over Catherine mogaznewsen