British Legion secretary is accused of forging the £5 million will of a ... trends now
A former British Legion secretary has been accused of forging the £5million will of a 90-year-old ex-air hostess.
Mark Pidsley, 70, allegedly became a 'sudden presence' in the twilight of Joan Sutcliffe's life.
Despite the elderly widow's family never meeting him, Mr Pidsley and his son David were named as executors and trustees in a will made in 2019, the year before she died.
It overwrote a 2011 will that had left Mrs Sutcliffe's impressive home in Putney, south-west London, a detached Victorian villa in Lymington, Hampshire, and a flat in Provence to her stepdaughter Bridget Spencer, 68, and her children Harry, Rebecca and Victoria. Under the new document, not a penny goes to her stepdaughter, and there is just £2,000 for each child.
And according to a 'letter of wishes' allegedly attached to the will – yet not disclosed until two years after the death – the bulk of the multi-million-pound estate now goes to a trust controlled by the Pidsleys.
The late Joan Sutcliffe, who is pictured with her late husband John, was listed as a 'vulnerable adult' after a fall which left her with a broken hip
A note supposedly from Mrs Sutcliffe says the funds can be spent by the Pidsleys 'at your sole discretion for your benefit or given to your family as you see fit'.
A court battle has begun after the two witnesses to the new will said they knew nothing of it. The pair – Mr Pidsley's acquaintance Simon Parker and Mr Parker's friend Marie Pollack – say they were asked only to sign a power of attorney form.
They claim Mr Pidsley badgered them to sign a flowery letter he had written laying out 'a fictitious set of events' about witnessing the will.
Mrs Spencer's barrister Fay Collinson told London's High Court: 'The 2019 will is fraudulent because Joan did not sign the will or any other document in the presence of Mr Parker
