Sister forged £18m will to cheat me, says lawyer

Daily Mail  17/01/2007

BY BETH HALE AND COLIN FERNANDEZ

A BARRISTER yesterday accused his half- sister of forging a will to fleece him out of a share of his father's £18million estate.

Stephen Supple, 58, was stunned when his father Leonard died, leaving him a 'gift' of a mere £100 a year - to continue until he reached 70.

By contrast, his half-sister Lynda, the pensioner's love child, was named as the main beneficiary.

Convinced there was something suspicious, Mr Supple, a former amateur jockey, decided to investigate. And yesterday he took his claim to the High Court in London, accusing his sister of forging their 77-year-old father's will to secure the 60-acre estate for herself.

The court heard that Miss Supple was born after the landowner had an affair. She went to live with him on his sprawling stud farm near Maidstone, Kent, at the age of ten.
After the farmer died suddenly in February 2004, a will was discovered, dated just months before his death, leaving Lower Grange Farm to his daughter. The farm has development potential, the court heard, and may be worth £18million.

Mr Supple's suspicions were aroused by a series of 'clues'. The court was told the father called his daughter, 43, by her mother's surname of Milne. In the will, she appeared as Supple. Mr Supple was also surprised by a £500 bequest to the British Heart Foundation, as his father was not known for his generosity to charity. And his father's partner did not rate a mention.

Handwriting experts found the signature on the will to be 'markedly different' from other examples of the pensioner's writing, the court heard.

Miss Supple was born in 1963, following her father's affair with Margaret Milne. At the time, he was living as man and wife with Maria Nicholls, with whom he had begun a relationship many years before, after divorcing first wife Patricia Dennison in 1955. Mr Supple had married Miss Dennison in 1948 when she was five months pregnant with Stephen. After the divorce, the boy lived with his mother, spending weekends at Lower Grange Farm.

Mr Supple's barrister, Thomas Dumont, said Mr Supple senior had a close and loving relationship with his son and would not have all but disinherited him or excluded Maria.

He added that Miss Supple, a former Hilton Hotel worker, had volatile dealings with her father and although they could be close, she could also be both 'physically and verbally aggressive' towards him and his partner, who also died in 2004. A fortnight after her father's death, Miss Supple went to solicitors with the will. She and a friend, Robert Pender - a man Mr Dumont claimed was 'wholly unknown' to Mr Supple's family - were named as executors.

Miss Supple denies any wrongdoing. She claimed her father, who she loved deeply, always insisted his son would not get a penny and was unhappy he had not maintained the stud farm.

If the will is judged a forgery, the estate will be split equally between the siblings, as Mr Supple will have died intestate. The hearing continues.

(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
Date: 17/01/2007
Publication: Daily Mail