0:00:02 > 0:00:04Today, local knowledge pays off
0:00:04 > 0:00:08on the hunt for heirs to a £500,000 estate...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10I know back routes to get to places.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14That can be good in getting to an heir ahead of the competition.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17..and past scandals are uncovered.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19She didn't realise that the child that she was bringing up
0:00:19 > 0:00:22was actually her husband's love child.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25On another case, surnames are a struggle.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28It's an Osborne tree, so it's already horrendous.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32But the search leads to a notorious criminal.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36He eventually became probably one of the most famous criminals of his generation.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39It's all in a day's work for the heir hunters.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50In Cheshire, heir hunter Saul is on his way to visit a relative
0:00:50 > 0:00:53on a case he's working, and he's got surprising news for her.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58So I'm going to show her the tree and explain the exact relationships.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03For Saul, this is just the latest stage in a case that has tested him to the limit.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05She's going to be in for a little bit of a shock.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11We trace the next of kin of people who have died intestate.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Saul works for Celtic Research,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17a firm with individual case managers based around the UK.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Saul runs the north-west office and recently, he found himself
0:01:21 > 0:01:25competing against some of the UK's largest firms in the race to crack
0:01:25 > 0:01:27the valuable case of Charles Wilkinson.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30The case of Charles Wilkinson was released at the end of a Friday
0:01:30 > 0:01:33afternoon by the Treasury Solicitor's Department.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35He actually owned his property,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and the fact he owned his property meant there was going to be a lot of
0:01:38 > 0:01:41heavy competition on this case from other companies.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44And I really thought, "This is going to be vital,"
0:01:44 > 0:01:46time was of the essence, "Let's get it on."
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Charles Wilkinson passed away on the 1st of April 2014
0:01:56 > 0:01:59in Tarporley in Cheshire, aged 78.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Although there are no known photographs of Charles,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07his neighbour Bill, who knew him as Charlie,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11remembers he looked rather distinctive.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13He was often seen in his boiler suit.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17His hair was always sort of slicked back, boiler suit.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19And I think, when he wasn't wearing a boiler suit,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22he wore dark blue clothes, so it looked like his boiler suit.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Although they were neighbours for many years,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Bill recalls that Charles always kept himself to himself.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35And he was always just a friendly sort of guy who you said hello to,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39but he wasn't one to hold a conversation.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43He just said hello, was pleasant, and that was it.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49However, Charles did have one rather unusual companion.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51He had a little car.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55I guess it was something like an Austin 7 from the 1930s,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00and he kept it in a shed, or a small garage at the bottom of his garden,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and he had a wide path to the garage.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04And he would...
0:03:04 > 0:03:09He would back the car out, and you'd see it parked on the drive,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12all gleaming - and he'd obviously cleaned it and polished it -
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and then he'd put it back in the garage. It never went on the road.
0:03:20 > 0:03:21Having owned his own home,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26Charles had left behind an estate estimated to be worth £500,000,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and Saul needed to get a head start on the competition if he was going
0:03:29 > 0:03:32to stand any chance of beating his rivals.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The first thing I had to do with this case was establish whether the
0:03:35 > 0:03:37deceased had married and had children.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40I did have a look, and there didn't seem to be any obvious marriage
0:03:40 > 0:03:43listings that would appear to apply to him,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and not really any children either.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Saul's next port of call was to find out if Charles had any brothers or
0:03:49 > 0:03:53sisters, as siblings would be the first in line to inherit.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58I discovered that the deceased had a brother named Joseph Wilkinson,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03and their parents were Joseph Wilkinson, again, and Sarah Dodd.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Wilkinson and Dodd are very common names,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07especially Cheshire and North Wales.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Saul was quickly able to rule out children from Joseph.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Thanks very much. Bye.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15PHONE CHIMES
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Desperate to get ahead of the competition and crack this high-value case,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Saul gave up his entire weekend to painstakingly build a family tree
0:04:25 > 0:04:28showing Charles's aunts and uncles.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Now, the deceased's father was one of 11 children,
0:04:32 > 0:04:33and his mother was one of eight children.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37So these were incredibly big families, potentially.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40And I knew that, come Monday morning,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43when the competition were going to be getting involved full swing
0:04:43 > 0:04:45on a high-value case,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48we were going to have potentially lots and lots of cousins.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50It was going to be an incredibly busy week.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54I'm going to have to re-research this, just to check it.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57But as he compared the names on the paternal side of Charles's family
0:04:57 > 0:05:00with those on the maternal side,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02he was about to make a surprising discovery.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Now, I noticed that Charles's father, Joseph,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09had a sister named Maggie Wilkinson,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and she'd married a gentleman called Charles Dodd.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Now, Dodd was the deceased's mother's maiden name.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21So I wondered whether Charles Dodd and Sarah Ellen Dodd were brother and sister.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Although rare nowadays, in times gone by,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31sets of brothers and sisters from one family marrying sets of brothers
0:05:31 > 0:05:34and sisters from another family was common in rural communities.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41So I checked it, and there they are on the Dodd family tree.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43And they were brother and sister.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46So you had a sister and a brother who married a brother and a sister.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51It's a discovery that had a huge bearing on Saul's search.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55So they inherit twice over, so they actually get twice as much money as they would have done
0:05:55 > 0:05:58had their parents only been related once over.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Saul decided to focus on finding descendants of Charles's Aunt Maggie,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07who would be in line to inherit twice.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09But it was a monumental challenge.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11Maggie and Charles had 11 children.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16OK, two of them died in infancy, but there were another whole set of
0:06:16 > 0:06:19branches here which I had to go through all over again.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22If they'd have had one child, that would have been wonderful.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25But, no, they had 11, and there were all sorts of grandchildren
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and even great-grandchildren of that marriage
0:06:28 > 0:06:31who I had to go out and find.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33The workload was spiralling out of control.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36With other firms up and down the country nipping at his heels,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Saul drafted in his colleagues to help research Charles's ten other
0:06:40 > 0:06:42paternal aunts and uncles.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Hi, this is Hector Birchwood, I'm returning your call.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Having quickly ruled out five who had no children,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and with Saul already making progress with the Maggie Wilkinson stem,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59they had four further aunts and uncles to research.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03The deceased's last uncle on this side was Alfred Wilkinson,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05and I found out he moved from Picton,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08which is just south of Chester, over to the Wirral,
0:07:08 > 0:07:09which is north of Chester.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Which made sense, cos his occupation was a railway platelayer.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23With the offer of higher wages and privileged travel for workers and their families,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27many farm labourers like Alfred decided to leave the land
0:07:27 > 0:07:32and take up work as railway platelayers, maintaining the tracks.
0:07:32 > 0:07:39You'd have to be a manual worker and someone that was quite tough.
0:07:39 > 0:07:40It was not a glamorous job.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43It was very hard. Long hours.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45They would sometimes be up at the crack of dawn
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and work until nightfall,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51so you could talk about nine or ten hours.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54And it's hard graft work, manual work,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57with wheelbarrows and picks and shovels.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05By the 1930s, there were around 30,000 platelayers in Britain,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09but it was one of the most dangerous professions in the industry.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15There were all sorts of accidents to their hands and legs, limbs.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18With using a shovel and a pickaxe,
0:08:18 > 0:08:24they could easily damage their legs and their arms.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26In tunnels, that was another problem.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31When the train went into a tunnel, they had recesses so that they could
0:08:31 > 0:08:35take refuge from the trains that were going along.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41And with the smoke from the steam trains, steam engines,
0:08:41 > 0:08:48then the smoke, the fumes and steam and so on would linger a long time
0:08:48 > 0:08:53in the tunnels, and so they had to breathe in this
0:08:53 > 0:08:58smoky air because there was no health and safety masks in those days.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Perhaps they put a scarf across their face.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The hours were long and the risks high,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and many workers met an untimely death.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12However, it seems Alfred survived his time working on the railways.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Saul discovered he had married and had two sons,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21one of whom appeared to have had children of his own.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25These children would be heirs
0:09:25 > 0:09:28and Saul needed to track them down.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33But with difficult surnames and potential beneficiaries related twice over,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Saul's search for paternal heirs was turning into a mighty challenge.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40It was so intense,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43but that's what you have to do in the face of strong competition.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Saul decided he would head to the area where the family were based,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51so he could be ready to visit the heirs as soon as he found them.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54And he had an advantage.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Working a case in an area that I know well,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I know where the roads are and I know back routes to get to places.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02So if the traffic's all blocked up on this road,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05I know I can go down another road to get there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09So that can be good in getting to an heir ahead of the competition.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Saul's research was about to uncover a family past steeped in scandal.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20The child she was bringing up was actually her husband's love child.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22And with a £500,000 estate at stake,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26the competition was about to get fierce.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28These are my streets, they're going to be MY heirs.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36If you could both have a look at those stems,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and I'll carry on with some on the other side.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41When the heir hunters take on a case,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45they never know what they're going to come across in the family tree.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48You might come across somebody famous,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51or even somebody infamous on a family tree.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54It might be a living heir or it might be somebody perhaps a few
0:10:54 > 0:10:58generations back, but there's always something quite interesting when it happens.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03And when they took on a case of Maud Osborne, their research led them to
0:11:03 > 0:11:07one of the most audacious and famous crimes of the 20th century.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10He didn't mess about and he was a big guy.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14He knew how to frighten people and part of it was intimidation.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15That's how they got their money.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28Maud Helen Osborne died at the age of 87 in January 2016
0:11:28 > 0:11:31at a nursing home just a few miles from where she'd been born
0:11:31 > 0:11:33in Canning Town, London.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36As a lifelong East-Ender,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Maud would have seen huge changes in the Newham area.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42It's changed a lot in that time.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45It's getting very... What's the word for it?
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Poshified? It was very shabby.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50It's much nicer-looking now.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Since the Olympics, it's great.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I think the East End is the new West End.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04- Wow.- No dates, no area.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06When she passed away,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10retired civil servant Maud had no known family members.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13As she'd made no will, the council referred her estate
0:12:13 > 0:12:15to probate research firm Finders International,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and it was picked up by case manager Amy Moyes.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22They gave us certain details from the beginning.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28They confirmed Maud's date of birth as the 2nd of December 1928,
0:12:28 > 0:12:34and they mentioned that she had a probable brother by the name of Colin.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38The council were also quite certain that Maud had never married or had
0:12:38 > 0:12:41any children, but, of course, as part of our initial research,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43we would have to...
0:12:43 > 0:12:46have to have ruled this out to be absolutely sure.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50All right, thank you. Bye-bye.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57Although the case was worth £25,000, taking it on was still a gamble.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05If you imagine a case where we have a very large family tree with...
0:13:05 > 0:13:08tens of beneficiaries involved,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13then with the amount of certificates we need to spend money on,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16we'll end up struggling to break even on an estate of this size.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21You can look into him and then, Holly,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23there's another stem that's really inconsistent.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28Deciding to take the plunge, Amy started with the basics.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Maud had never been married.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34We also did a search of the birth indexes to look for any potentially
0:13:34 > 0:13:38illegitimate children she may have had. That also came up blank.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42So, at that stage, we knew it was important to look for this potential brother.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44To find Maud's brother,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Amy first found her parents on her birth certificate.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51We knew that her mother's maiden name was Sales.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So we looked through the marriage indexes
0:13:54 > 0:13:56for an Osborne/Sales marriage
0:13:56 > 0:13:59and we found a record that matched,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04and that was for a Charles Osborne to a Maud Elizabeth Sales.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10There are five stems to look into.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Having been given a tip-off from the council that Maud's brother was
0:14:13 > 0:14:17called Colin, Amy was hopeful for a quick result.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24The only correct record we could find was for a John Osborne.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27The John they'd found had died as a bachelor
0:14:27 > 0:14:29and there was no sign of a brother called Colin.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35At this stage, we had no way of knowing through research
0:14:35 > 0:14:38whether or not John and Colin were one and the same,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41or whether we still had a sibling named Colin to find.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46So we were left with no choice but to look at the maternal
0:14:46 > 0:14:47and paternal family trees.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52We could end up in a situation where we do
0:14:52 > 0:14:56large amounts of research into the maternal and paternal families,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58only to find that we wasted our time -
0:14:58 > 0:15:01to be told that Colin is in fact
0:15:01 > 0:15:04another sibling and he may well still be living,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07which means a lot of time wasted.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11With the possibility a brother called Colin may still be found,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15any research the team did into the wider family would be a gamble.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18But they had no choice but to take that chance.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Starting with the easier surname on the maternal side,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25Amy looked into Maud's mum, who was also called Maud.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29And Amy discovered she was the daughter of Joseph William Sales
0:15:29 > 0:15:30and Lucy Packard.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34The maternal grandparents were married in 1907,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37so we used a combination of checking the birth indexes,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42as well as checking the 1911 census record
0:15:42 > 0:15:47to establish how many siblings there were to Maud's mother,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Maud Elizabeth.
0:15:49 > 0:15:55Overall, we established that there were seven maternal stems.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00With seven potentially complicated stems to research,
0:16:00 > 0:16:06Amy would have her work cut out to successfully uncover any beneficiaries.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Could you have a quick check as well for post-1911 for me,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12so we know exactly what we're looking at?
0:16:12 > 0:16:13But five's not too bad.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15- Yeah, that's fine.- Thank you.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Undeterred, she continued to look into Maud's aunts and uncles,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and quickly ruled out two who had died in infancy.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Albert Edward and Lucy May.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Now, although they survived infancy,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32they both passed away without having any children,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34so no living heirs for us.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39At this point, we've dealt with over half of the maternal family tree,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and we haven't found any living descendants.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45So we were starting to wonder whether we were going to locate
0:16:45 > 0:16:48anybody at all on this side of the family.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Can I get you to take a look at a couple of stems for me?
0:16:51 > 0:16:55When a parent of the deceased is one of several children -
0:16:55 > 0:16:59so, for instance, they have maybe seven or eight siblings of their own -
0:16:59 > 0:17:05you can begin by being quite sure of yourself that you're going to find heirs.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08But there are occasions when you're completely surprised,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and maybe four or five of those siblings either die in infancy,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14or they pass away without having married or had children.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17And so you're suddenly faced with a situation where you might have worked
0:17:17 > 0:17:21an entire family tree that has the potential to be the rather large,
0:17:21 > 0:17:28and you could find one, two or maybe, on occasion, no heirs at all.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36- This address here.- Yeah, OK.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39But, fortunately, Amy's luck was turning.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44We then focused on a maternal uncle, Joseph William...
0:17:45 > 0:17:47..and we found a marriage for him.
0:17:47 > 0:17:53He married an Edith Caroline Bagnall in 1938, and he did have children.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58We were able to identify five living heirs on this stem.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01We then looked at Arthur William Sales.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04He married as well and had two children,
0:18:04 > 0:18:09both of whom are still alive, and they are potential heirs.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13The final stem to look at was that of Rosetta Jane Sales.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19She married an Alfred Oxley and had three children herself.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Forest... Do you have the file?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23After a tricky start,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Amy had now broken the back of the maternal side.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31But they still had the paternal Osborne side to crack.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36It's not uncommon for research to be really simple,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39really straightforward and really rather fast on one side
0:18:39 > 0:18:40of the family,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43usually because the surname is really good to work with,
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and then the other side might be a Smith or an Osborne or a Johnson,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and you know it's going to be a nightmare.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55And the Osborne side of the family lived up to expectations.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Holly, James, can I get you to have a look,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02a double-check at some bits and pieces?
0:19:02 > 0:19:05It's an Osborne tree, so it's already horrendous.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08And as she battles inconsistency...
0:19:08 > 0:19:11He changes his name all over the place, reverses it.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13..after inconsistency...
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Her mother's maiden name is completely different.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18..Amy uncovers family members caught up in one of the most
0:19:18 > 0:19:20infamous crimes of the last century.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Also a reputation for being pretty violent.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25You know, when occasion called for it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Heir hunters trace thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37I think the most satisfying bit about my job
0:19:37 > 0:19:40is putting people in touch with the rest of their family.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46But not all cases can be cracked and many remain unsolved.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Today, we're focusing on two Scottish cases that have been
0:19:50 > 0:19:53advertised by the Queen and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57The first is Vincent Tinney,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02who died on the 19th of January 2015 in Greenock, aged 72.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Vincent was born in Ireland on the 22nd of October 1942,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11but at some point moved to Greenock.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Vincent's estate is thought to be worth over £20,000.
0:20:16 > 0:20:17Did you know Vincent?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Could you be the person the heir hunters are looking for?
0:20:20 > 0:20:25The next case is Mary McIntyre, who died on the 18th of September 2007,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28aged 99 at her home in Glasgow.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32McIntyre is believed to be Mary's married name,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37as she was born Mary Murray in Clydebank on the 11th of July 1908.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Mary's estate is worth just over £9,500.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Could you be entitled to a share of that estate?
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Could the heir hunters be looking for you?
0:20:58 > 0:21:01What we'd like to do is send you a form...
0:21:01 > 0:21:04to allow us to put your claim forward to the estate.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Case manager Saul Marks, from Celtic Research,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11has been frantically trying to find beneficiaries to the
0:21:11 > 0:21:14£500,000 estate of Charles Wilkinson,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18whilst fending off stiff competition from larger firms.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19It was a high-value case.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22The deceased lived in a village called Kelsall,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25which is really beautiful, and I know from local knowledge,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28property around there is going to go for quite a lot of money.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30So we knew it was high-value and we knew, obviously,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32there'd be competition attached to that.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40The search had led Saul to Charles' cousins and their descendants...
0:21:40 > 0:21:45but with a total of 18 aunts and uncles to research,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Saul had his work cut out.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51When you're working a large family, you have to prioritise, really,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54which branches you're going to work on first.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56And you have to look at it and say,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59"Well, some branches have very few heirs on,
0:21:59 > 0:22:01"maybe only one heir on that particular branch."
0:22:01 > 0:22:02In that case,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06that person's signature is going to be much more valuable to us,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09because that person is going to be inheriting a lot more money.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Right, OK...
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Under pressure to beat his rivals, Saul had to make
0:22:14 > 0:22:18calculated decisions in his research and had focused on the descendants
0:22:18 > 0:22:19of Charles' Aunt Maggie.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22She was the sister of Charles' dad,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25but was also married to the brother of Charles' mum.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30This meant any children they had would be related on both the maternal and paternal side,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33and would therefore inherit twice.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39He had already established that out of Maggie's 11 children,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43seven had children of their own, and as Charles' cousins once removed,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45they would be heirs.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Charles and Maggie had two sets of twins.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49One of the twins was a lady named Winifred,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51who married Arthur Cram.
0:22:51 > 0:22:52And they had one child,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54a daughter named Beryl.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58After days of nonstop research, was Saul finally closing in
0:22:58 > 0:23:03on an heir or had the competition pipped him to the post?
0:23:03 > 0:23:07I managed to find that Beryl actually also lived just outside
0:23:07 > 0:23:08the village where I grew up,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10so I got in the car and I dashed down to see her,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12to hopefully sign her up.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20When he knocked on the door, I was quite shocked, really.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Because, you know, nothing ever happens to people like us.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Beryl is Charles' first cousin once removed
0:23:28 > 0:23:31through her grandfather, Charles Dodd, on the maternal side,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35and on the paternal side, through her grandmother, Maggie.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40This is the picture of my nan, Maggie, and this is my cousin, Joan,
0:23:40 > 0:23:41who unfortunately has passed away.
0:23:41 > 0:23:48And this one is my mum, Maggie's daughter, on our wedding day.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52But despite being close to her nan,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56there was never any mention of her distant cousin Charles.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58It's a shame to think he's died on his own,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01because obviously I don't think he knew any of us.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Having found Beryl, Saul's work was far from over.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12He still had a number of potential heirs from Charles' Aunt Maggie to track down.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15But he ran into a problem.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I met quite a few of the heirs on this branch,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and several people mentioned an Aunt Emily,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25who I didn't seem to have on my tree and I couldn't understand why she wasn't on the tree.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Saul went back to his tree to see if he'd missed something,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33but nothing was immediately jumping out.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37Hi, my name's Saul Marks.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41But as he chatted to more potential beneficiaries,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44he made a shocking discovery of a hidden family scandal.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Emily was in fact Maggie's illegitimate daughter,
0:24:50 > 0:24:56who was the product of a brief affair she'd had with her brother-in-law, John Jones.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Maggie had a daughter, Emily,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01with her sister Annie's husband, John Jones.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05She then went on to marry Charles Dodd and have a further 11 children.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07It was really bizarre with this,
0:25:07 > 0:25:12because Emily was known as a Dodd but she was born as a Wilkinson.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14And on the census, she was a Jones.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16And all these names get jumbled in together,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and it's amazing to actually think that in the midst of all this,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24we can work out who people were and which branches they go into.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Having spent the first day signing up paternal Wilkinson heirs,
0:25:30 > 0:25:35Saul had no time to lose in finalising his research and
0:25:35 > 0:25:39finding heirs on the maternal side, before his rivals got to them first.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42He quickly established that Charles' maternal grandparents,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Charles Dodd and Sarah Ackerley, had eight children,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48including Charles' mother, Sarah.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Again, a massive family, there are eight branches here to work through.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00Saul spent the entire second day contacting cousins on the maternal side,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02but he was greeted with bad news.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Unfortunately, what I found as I was contacting some of these people
0:26:07 > 0:26:12was that they'd already been found by our competitors, the other firms.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17After days of hard work, it was the last thing Saul wanted to hear.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19So what I ended up with at the end of the day
0:26:19 > 0:26:22was a really nice-looking family tree with lots of heirs on it,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25none of whom we'd signed.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28It was exactly the news Saul had been dreading.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33But faced with tough competition and a huge family,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35the case turned out well for Saul,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and he managed to sign 12 of Charles' 71 heirs -
0:26:39 > 0:26:41all of whom will share his estate.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45It's been a big family to research and it's always nice to end up with
0:26:45 > 0:26:50some nice-looking family trees at the end, and I'm pretty happy with the whole thing.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Today, Saul is paying heir Beryl a visit.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00DOORBELL CHIMES
0:27:02 > 0:27:05- Hi.- Hello, Saul, come in.- Thank you.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Come on in, Saul.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Thank you. Oh, you've had it done up in here.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Armed with the completed family trees,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20he's keen to help fill in some of the blanks about her family history.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Right, I have...
0:27:23 > 0:27:25a very large tree to show you here.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27So that's how they're connected.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33So Charles was first cousin of your late mum.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38But it's not just the family tree that Saul is keen to share with Beryl.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41You see here, all your mum's brothers and sisters?
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- Yeah.- There's an extra one at the top there, Emily Wilkinson.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51- Right.- Now, she was your nan's illegitimate child.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58So, I think what's happened is Maggie's got pregnant,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Annie has taken Maggie's child in to bring her up,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06because she's got a family of her own, but she hasn't realised...
0:28:06 > 0:28:13Annie, I don't think, ever realised her sister's child was actually...
0:28:13 > 0:28:17The biological father of the child was her own husband.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Oh, she didn't have a clue?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22I don't think so, because they went on and had two more children afterwards.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25She may have done, but it's my personal theory
0:28:25 > 0:28:27that she didn't realise that the child that
0:28:27 > 0:28:31- she was bringing up was actually her husband's love child.- Oh.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35- That's a shock.- It is.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40I don't know, words fail me.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Really, really shocked.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44- VOICEOVER:- It was nice to see Beryl again.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46It was particularly nice to show her the finished product.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50When I first came to see her, it was half worked,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53in the process of being researched, it wasn't the finished product.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57What I was able to do tonight is come along and show her and say,
0:28:57 > 0:28:59"This is your family."
0:29:05 > 0:29:08If I can get you on the road as soon as possible...
0:29:08 > 0:29:12In London, heir hunters Finders International had made headway
0:29:12 > 0:29:14tracing cousins of Maud Osborne...
0:29:14 > 0:29:17It's an Osborne tree, so it's already horrendous.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20..but were struggling to trace a potential brother, Colin,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23who they'd been told about by the council.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27At this point, as we had no way of knowing whether or not Colin was
0:29:27 > 0:29:29in fact another brother,
0:29:29 > 0:29:33we had no option but to look at the maternal and paternal trees.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Having identified maternal heirs to Maud's estate, Amy had started to
0:29:40 > 0:29:44work the more difficult paternal surname of Osborne,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47and she went to a specific resource to find Maud's father,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Charles Osborne.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53I went back to the 1911 census,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55because I knew that Charles should feature on there,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57having been born in 1908.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02I came across a positive match, and I could then see that...
0:30:02 > 0:30:06Charles was on the 1911 census with his father, John,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09and it names his mother as Emma.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Having Maud's paternal grandparents' names meant Amy could now
0:30:13 > 0:30:16do a search for all of their children,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19cross checking for any variations to the surname.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Osborne can be spelt with or without an E,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25it can also be spelt with or without a U,
0:30:25 > 0:30:31and all of these variations were found whilst researching this particular family tree.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33But her hard work paid off.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37All in all, we then had nine children to John and Emma.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41With eight aunts and uncles to now descend, Amy quickly discovered
0:30:41 > 0:30:44a difficult surname was the least of her worries.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47That really is strange. I'm not convinced that these are correct.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49It's random.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52- That's random as well.- Yeah.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56This first marriage says his dad's a George... That's weird.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58With all hands on deck,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02Amy finally ruled out an Aunt May who had died in infancy,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04and she had leads on three other stems.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08Helen Catherine Osborne married a Robert Ladlow
0:31:08 > 0:31:10and had three children.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15Uncle Alfred Daniel Osborne had two children,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19and Arthur Robert Osborne married a Lillian Elvin
0:31:19 > 0:31:23and they had three children themselves.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Amy was on a roll...
0:31:26 > 0:31:29until she hit a snag with Maud's uncle, John Osborne.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Paternal uncle here, John George Charles.
0:31:32 > 0:31:38He'd married three times and each time had used a different variation of his name.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40It meant the research was painstakingly slow.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Across all of those three marriages, we just have one child
0:31:45 > 0:31:48having been born to John from his second marriage,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50a child named Helen Irene.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Unfortunately, she passed away in infancy.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55So, after all of that time-consuming research,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59we were left with a stem that dies out completely,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02with no potential for any living heirs.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08But another uncle proved more promising.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Paternal uncle, William Michael Osborne,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15married a Mary Ann Farrell in 1933,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18and together they had two children.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21When we were researching those children,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25we came across some particularly interesting information
0:32:25 > 0:32:28with reference to the eldest daughter, Patricia.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31We located a marriage for her to a Charles Wilson,
0:32:31 > 0:32:36and when we looked into that marriage and their history together,
0:32:36 > 0:32:43we identified that Charles was in fact Charlie Wilson of the Great Train Robbery.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Charlie Wilson, an extraordinary guy, really.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Greengrocer's son, very humble beginnings, lived in Battersea,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58his parents had a greengrocer's in Penge, apparently.
0:32:58 > 0:32:59That was his destiny, really.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03But, in fact, he went in a completely different direction
0:33:03 > 0:33:05and became an extraordinary criminal,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09probably one of the most famous criminals of his generation.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11After previous brushes with the law,
0:33:11 > 0:33:16it was in August 1963 that Charlie Wilson's criminal career peaked.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20He and his gang were tipped off about an overnight mail train
0:33:20 > 0:33:24from Glasgow to Euston, carrying bags of used banknotes.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26And, you know, it was a gift really.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29There were no guards on the train, no communication on the train,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33it was completely kind of isolated in a way.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36In the middle of the night, no mobile phones or anything like that,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39so it was really easy pickings in a way.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43The thing was kind of just travelling down through dark, deserted countryside.
0:33:43 > 0:33:44All they had to do was stop it.
0:33:50 > 0:33:51The wheels were set in motion.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56They rented a farmhouse nearby as their hideout and ambushed the train.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01Wilson was one of the first guys into the high-value package cage,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03where this money was kept.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06They were wielding iron bars, they were yelling at these guys,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08they had stocking masks on, one guy had an axe in his hand.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10I mean, it was absolutely terrifying,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12and these were big guys and they didn't mess about.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16They basically quashed and herded all these workmen, poor workmen,
0:34:16 > 0:34:18down to the other end of the carriage,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21then unloaded 100-odd mailbags.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23And, yeah, within 45 minutes,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26they'd actually emptied the thing and they were on
0:34:26 > 0:34:28their way back to their hideout.
0:34:28 > 0:34:34Having stolen £2.6 million, around £40 million in today's money,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37the crime was soon front-page news.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Despite going their separate ways,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Charlie and his cronies were quickly under suspicion.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44When they left this farmhouse,
0:34:44 > 0:34:46which they did in a hurry because the police were searching the
0:34:46 > 0:34:50countryside, they left a lot of evidence behind them,
0:34:50 > 0:34:51including fingerprints.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55In April 1964,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Charlie Wilson and six others were jailed for 30 years each.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04He was facing spending most of the rest of his adult life,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and certainly his children's childhood, behind bars.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12So he obviously had a long time to think about that.
0:35:14 > 0:35:19But four months into his sentence, Wilson disappeared from his cell.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29There hasn't really been a convincing account of exactly what happened to Charlie Wilson
0:35:29 > 0:35:31once he went over the wall of the Winston Green prison.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36I mean, clearly, he laid low and he was smuggled out of the country
0:35:36 > 0:35:38by one means or another.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41What we do know is that he ended up in Canada,
0:35:41 > 0:35:45in northern Quebec, where he was joined with Pat and his girls.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50The family settled into a respectable neighbourhood,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53but the hunt for the escaped train robber was not over,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and in 1968, the net closed in.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59Charlie was just going to take his girls to school, a normal routine,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02there was a ring on the doorbell, he went to the front door,
0:36:02 > 0:36:08opened the door and there standing on his doorstep was head of the Flying Squad, Tommy Butler.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12And behind him was 50 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14and there was no getting away from it.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21Charlie was extradited to the UK to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26He was released in 1978, and this time, moved with his family to Spain.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30But he was soon involved in the murky world of drug trafficking.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37And it wasn't long before his past caught up with him.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40He was outside preparing the barbecue,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43a guy turned up on a yellow bicycle and rang the doorbell,
0:36:43 > 0:36:45said he had a message for Charlie.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Pat let him in.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52And then there was a shot...
0:36:52 > 0:36:54and that was the end of Charlie Wilson,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56lying dead by his swimming pool.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02Sort of a very sad and poignant image of the end of an extraordinary
0:37:02 > 0:37:06sort of meteoric criminal career for this Battersea boy with
0:37:06 > 0:37:08the sparkling blue eyes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12Charlie made one final trip to England,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14this time for his own funeral.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Of course, it was devastating for the family, but, I think, you know,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Pat and the girls would have been well taken care of and Charlie would
0:37:23 > 0:37:28have made sure that there was money in the bank and they weren't going to go hungry.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37With Charlie dead,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Amy was struggling to find out what happened to his wife and children.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46We had to do a little bit more digging and once we had,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50we finally discovered that the three children had in fact changed their surnames.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54And once we had established that,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57we were able to successfully locate them and speak with them.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01It turned out that Patricia had actually passed away a couple of years ago,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04and so the three children
0:38:04 > 0:38:07turned out to be potential heirs to the estate.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12For Amy, the case was coming together
0:38:12 > 0:38:15and there was just one more stem to research.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20So we could tell that Thomas Patrick married a lady named Rose Warner
0:38:20 > 0:38:25in 1920, and from a search of the birth indexes, we could see
0:38:25 > 0:38:29two sons to Thomas and Rose -
0:38:29 > 0:38:34a Sydney William Osborne and a further son, Dennis Patrick.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37When looking into the stem of Dennis Patrick Osborne,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41we successfully identified that he had four children.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45One of those was a daughter named Susan Bodle,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48and we were able to make contact with her fairly quickly
0:38:48 > 0:38:50and confirm that she was correct.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54And she turned out to be one of the potential heirs to this estate.
0:39:02 > 0:39:08Today, travelling rep Howard is on his way to visit Susan and her mum, Jean.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11The pair are looking forward to learning more.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15The man'll be here in a minute, like, coming to see me,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17so it's quite exciting, isn't it?
0:39:17 > 0:39:19Yeah, it is exciting!
0:39:24 > 0:39:27- Hi.- Hello.- Susan Bodle? - Yes.- Howard.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30- Oh, hello.- I hope they contacted you, told you I was coming.
0:39:30 > 0:39:31Yes, they did.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33- Pleased to meet you.- Thank you.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40- That's your father, and there's Jean.- We found you as well, Jean.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43- Right, so your husband's parents... - Parents, yes.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45- Thomas Patrick...- That's right.
0:39:45 > 0:39:51..who's the sibling of - and we come all the way along here to Charles -
0:39:51 > 0:39:55- who is the father of Maud. - Oh!- Who's the deceased.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57I remember a Charlie, yes.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59So that's how it connects.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03It's not long before Jean spots a familiar name.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Any of the family that you recognise names of?
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Well, that's Pat Osborne, which was my husband's cousin.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14- Right.- And she was married to, erm...
0:40:14 > 0:40:16What's his name? Charlie Wilson.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18THE Charlie Wilson?
0:40:18 > 0:40:21THE Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers.
0:40:21 > 0:40:22Oh, dear!
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Yes, because I remember seeing him once at a family funeral.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31He was sitting next to me and I didn't know who he was.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33My husband's nudging me, "Look who that is."
0:40:33 > 0:40:35I said, "No, I don't want..."
0:40:35 > 0:40:37It wasn't the big black glasses that gave him away?
0:40:37 > 0:40:42No! He had... I mean, he was well-suited, like a businessman.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46- He would've been, yeah.- With, you know, gold and jewellery on.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51Having had no knowledge of Maud, the family tree is fascinating.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55So she was born the year before Daddy, wasn't she?
0:40:55 > 0:40:57- Oh, I don't... - Because he was born '29.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02- Oh, was he?- Maud, yeah - she was born on the 2nd of December 1928.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Yeah. Well, my husband was born in May of '29.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09- OK.- She was sort of...
0:41:09 > 0:41:10And your brother and sister...
0:41:10 > 0:41:14- they both never got married and both never had no children?- Yeah.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18- Very nice to meet you.- And you.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21- Thanks for your hospitality. See you again, all the best.- Cheers.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25News of wider family has given Susan food for thought.
0:41:25 > 0:41:26It's been exciting,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31and Howard coming today has given us a bit more information.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35It's not finished yet, obviously, but, erm, yeah...
0:41:35 > 0:41:40It's just made me more interested to know more about the family
0:41:40 > 0:41:42and just to find out more, really.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Especially more about Maud.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49Tracing Susan helped tie up the loose ends for case manager Amy.
0:41:49 > 0:41:54We successfully managed to identify around about 30 paternal heirs,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58so all in all it's turned out to be quite successful.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03It's a case which revealed a fascinating insight into the criminal underworld.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07It's always quite interesting when we come across somebody famous
0:42:07 > 0:42:09within a family tree.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11It creates a bit of excitement around the office.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15We all delve a little bit deeper and see what we can find out about this person.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19It also makes the particular family tree a little bit more
0:42:19 > 0:42:22personal to us, as we learn a bit more about the family history.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26And having concluded that the brother Colin was a red herring,
0:42:26 > 0:42:3139 cousins will share Maud's £25,000 estate.
0:42:31 > 0:42:32But for heir, Susan,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35it's the chance to find out more that is most valuable.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38What she did for a living and where she lived...
0:42:38 > 0:42:41- Definitely want to find out where she was buried.- Yeah, that's right.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Because I'd like to go there.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46We'll look after her. She won't be forgotten.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48- No.- Not now.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52No. I'd like to find her grave and put some flowers on it.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55- Definitely, definitely. - She's got someone.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59- She's got someone in her family somewhere along the line, that's right.- Yeah.