Pensioner Leaves £500k To Builder Who Cleaned His Gutters

A 'lonely' pensioner has sparked a bitter court dispute after leaving his £500,000 fortune to a builder who cleaned his gutters for free.

Daniel Sharp, 45, admitted he was "shocked" to learn that Ronald Butcher had left him all his money when he died in March 2013. 

The body of Mr Butcher, described as a "private and quiet man", lay undiscovered in his home in Enfield, north London, for almost two months, the High Court heard.

Now Mr Butcher's cousin and two others have taken legal action challenging the will he wrote in 2013.

Previously, his elderly cousin, Joyce Gilkerson, as well as Evelyn Hutchins and Peter Rogers, the children of a close school friend, were the equal beneficiaries of a will drawn up by Mr Butcher in December 2011.

But after his death they discovered that they had been disinherited.

Mrs Hutchins, told the court that the "odd" nature of Mr Butcher's bequest to Mr Sharp should "excite suspicion" that he did not fully understand what he was doing.

But Jennifer Seaman, for Mr Sharp, said her client was one of the man's only friends.

She said: "Mr Butcher was a lonely man who found a friend in Mr Sharp.

"Mr Butcher knew what he was doing when he made the 2013 will and what its effect would be.

"He found a male friend in Mr Sharp, somebody he could chat to.

"They had a shared interest in DIY and he liked to hear about Mr Sharp's son.

"That is an explanation why he wanted to make the 2013 will."

Giving evidence, Mr Sharp described the start of his friendship with Mr Butcher six years before his death, saying: "When I first cleaned out his gutter he offered me a tenner or twenty quid for it, but I said no, I wouldn't take it.

"It was a nothing job that took seconds."

Talking of his feelings on learning of his surprise inheritance, he added: "At the time I was shocked to be given something like that.

"It's life changing.

"Nobody gives you nothing in life.

"I didn't think he had people to give it to, or obviously they had had an argument. Something happened and he gave it to me.

"I can't say the reason why he gave it to me."

But he suggested he might have received the inheritance because he was the only one who visited Mr Butcher regularly.

He said: "But if I'm the only one who went round to talk to him... I didn't know what's gone on with the others.

"Obviously there's been a big falling out."

Asked why he did not attend Mr Butcher's funeral, Mr Sharp said it would "just cause arguments" with the pensioner's family, and refuted Miss Taylor's claim that the two men were not, in fact, friends.

He said: "I class a friend as somebody who talks to people.

"His friends and family hadn't spoken to him in months.

"At least I was going round whenever I was in the area.

"I'm still shocked today and I can understand why his family are upset about it.

"But, at the end of the day, there's a reason why he's given it to me.

"They know it, but I don't.

"We were not good friends, just friends.

"I never said I was his best mate or whatever."

Mrs Hutchins, 53, told the court her family had been close to her honorary "uncle" Mr Butcher.

She admitted she and her brother saw less of him after their mother's death, but denied the suggestion that they had "slowly lost contact" with him.

She said: "One or other of us would go and see him every break we had.

"I had tried to pop in around March and had phoned but there was nothing.

"We were planning to go on a cruise the next year.

"I've never seen Mr Sharp.

"I would have expected uncle Ron to talk about him."

Mr Rogers, 57, claimed Mr Sharp was "lying" about being friends with Mr Butcher, adding: "My uncle had lots of friends and still came to family parties.

"He and Mr Sharp had nothing in common.

"It just doesn't add up.

"He would tell us about what was going on in his life and Mr Sharp never ever came up."

The hearing continues.

Culled From Mirror