0:00:03 > 0:00:08Today, a house in a high-value estate goes under the hammer...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Can I say a million pounds?
0:00:10 > 0:00:13..as the search for heirs spirals out of control...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16What if they all have eight children?
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Then you've got hundreds and hundreds of people.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21..whilst a tragic tale...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23The fact that he was predeceased
0:00:23 > 0:00:27by both his wives and both his sons and his brother.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30..uncovers the story of a musical legend.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Brian Epstein offered him the Beatles and he turned them down.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37It's all in a day's work for the Heir Hunters.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46£24,000. Can I say 24?
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Of course I can.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51In Central London, Andrew Fraser, from heir hunting firm
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Fraser and Fraser, is attending a property auction.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Shall we say 25? Anyone else?
0:00:57 > 0:00:58Today, a high-value house,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01forming part of the estate of Douglas McMurrich,
0:01:01 > 0:01:02is going under the hammer.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Today's another key day in the administration
0:01:08 > 0:01:09of Mr McMurrich's estate.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11270 here...
0:01:13 > 0:01:17To sell the property today at auction would allow the major asset
0:01:17 > 0:01:19to be sold and realised into liquid funds.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26The property has a guide price in excess of £1 million,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29making this an extremely valuable case for the team.
0:01:32 > 0:01:33Everybody's nervous
0:01:33 > 0:01:37because ultimately we all have quite a lot riding on the outcome.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Douglas McMurrich passed away on 21st December 2015,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52having lived in the same house in West London his whole life.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59Douglas was a very private man but his neighbour of 30 years, Andrew,
0:01:59 > 0:02:00got to know him well.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Most of the conversations that
0:02:06 > 0:02:10Douglas and I used to have were, in fact, across this fence.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12But that was the character he was.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Once he got to know you a little bit better,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19he didn't ignore you and it was a pleasure, actually.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Andrew and Douglas's conversations in passing blossomed
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and, over the years, they became firm friends.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31My wife and I miss him very much and my sons do as well,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35because he was kind of a feature of the street.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41Here it is.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Salutation.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Douglas worked as an engineer...
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Nearly asleep at the drawing board.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51..and is fondly remembered by colleagues David and Mark.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57He was a nice bloke. I really got on well with him.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01I liked his sense of humour. It was quite cutting, quite cynical.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05He got a lot out of the industry and he was keen to put something back.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08He trained a few young engineers.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Douglas spent many years working on commercial properties...
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Douglas was a public health engineer.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Public health engineer is someone who designs the plumbing.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24..and never let his age get the better of him.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27And was keen to develop his skills.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32He wasn't one of these guys who was stuck in the ways of '50s or '60s...
0:03:32 > 0:03:34He was forward thinking, really.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36And was a font of knowledge.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41But whether Douglas had any surviving family remained a mystery,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45as only David, Mark and neighbour Andrew attended his funeral.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Andrew organised the cremation at Malt Lake,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53because somebody had to do it,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58rather than having someone from the council look after him.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Although they had a good working relationship,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Douglas was guarded about his personal life.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08His work life and his home life were very separate.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10Yeah.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13He didn't like to mix the two.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17It was just Douglas and Douglas was by himself.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24So far we have signed four people, four of his cousins.
0:04:24 > 0:04:25As Douglas didn't leave a will,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28the heir hunters got straight to work
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and, for case manager Ben Cornish and his team,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34the case would prove a tough challenge.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36When we're looking into these cases,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38we first have to establish when the deceased was born.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41He was born in 1930 in Shepherd's Bush in London.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44So we conducted a marriage search of the deceased
0:04:44 > 0:04:45and there were no records
0:04:45 > 0:04:49and, from that, we soon surmised that there were no children.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53With no children to inherit Douglas's sizeable estate,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Ben needed to find out if he had any siblings.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00We then would look for his parents.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01We discovered that they were
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Alexander McMurrich and Grace Hawthorn Green.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07They married in 1926 in London. From that point,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11we would look to see if there were any other children.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12OK. Thank you. Bye.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17But Ben was about to make a tragic discovery.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21There was one other son, a Laurence, born in 1927,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24but sadly passed away
0:05:24 > 0:05:26from TB in 1933.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Although infant deaths were still common in the 1920s,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Laurence's death would have been a devastating blow for the family.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Even though Douglas was only three when Laurence passed away,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46no doubt it must have had a massive impact on his mother and father.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48With no close relatives,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Ben now had to extend their search to aunts and uncles,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55in the hope of finding cousins who may still be alive
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and he recruited the help of research manager Isha Adams.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Here's the McMurrich file
0:06:01 > 0:06:04with the certs in if you want to look at that.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Isha began working up the maternal side of the family.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13There was a Grace H Green married an Alexander McMurrich.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16So we found the marriage,
0:06:16 > 0:06:17in 1926 in Hammersmith,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19so it was all in the area.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22We then found the deaths of parents.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Then we had an age and a round about date of birth.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28But Isha soon ran into a problem.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Then we found the mum was born in Fulham
0:06:31 > 0:06:33but there was no birth for the dad.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36With no record of his father's birth,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39the team wouldn't be able to research his side of the family.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Although no records of him had shown up in London, Isha had a plan.
0:06:45 > 0:06:51With a name like McMurrich, it doesn't sound very English as such,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53so we got our Scottish agent to have a look
0:06:53 > 0:06:55and he was actually born in Glasgow.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59That's the one.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01With the father's side of the family in Glasgow,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03this case had now mushroomed
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and the team had staff in England and Scotland
0:07:06 > 0:07:08working flat-out to find heirs.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11But the Scottish side of the research
0:07:11 > 0:07:13was to become even more intriguing.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It was going quite well initially.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Only two siblings of the father, of the deceased.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25And then the tree just seemed to grow and grow.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Douglas's father had two sisters,
0:07:28 > 0:07:29Maggie and Mary,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and whilst Mary had four children,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33the stem of Maggie
0:07:33 > 0:07:36would turn out to be even larger.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37We got on to Maggie
0:07:37 > 0:07:41and we know she has an illegitimate daughter with a John Hunter.
0:07:41 > 0:07:48There's no marriage, but Margaret Junior is called Margaret Hunter.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50So we know that's the mum, that's the dad.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53That's one. Maggie did get married to
0:07:53 > 0:07:56a John Volance Orr...
0:07:58 > 0:07:59..and they had nine children.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Douglas's fast-growing family tree was a worry for the team.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10It does send you into a bit of a panic, because you think,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12what if they all have eight children?
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Then you've got hundreds and hundreds of people
0:08:14 > 0:08:17that you've got to look for.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The Scottish team now faced a monumental challenge
0:08:24 > 0:08:26in their search for Douglas's cousins.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Ben feared the worst.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33In any estate, it's a danger of missing beneficiaries.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37But especially when you have a high-value case,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40because it could be hundreds of thousands of pounds
0:08:40 > 0:08:42going in the wrong direction,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44so we had to be extra careful on the case of McMurrich.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47We had to buy multiple certificates
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and we had to make sure we had all records that we can find.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55But in the middle of this frantic research,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57the team had started to learn more about Douglas,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01including the fascinating story of how his parents first met.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05So we know that the deceased's father was Alexander McMurrich
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and he was born on 22nd July, 1897, in Glasgow.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12He came down to London in World War I.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14He was a driver in the Army.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16And then after the conflict finished,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19he got a job in the laundry business.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Alexander took a job with a company called Snowflake Laundry,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30where his skills as a driver were suddenly in demand.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Most people who become responsible for
0:09:34 > 0:09:36a motorised vehicle in the 1920s,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39the chances are they've learnt how to drive
0:09:39 > 0:09:41during the First World War.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45After decades of horse-drawn vehicles, by the 1920s,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47the company had joined the motorised revolution.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Motor vans are becoming cheaper to buy
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and they're certainly less trouble to run,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56because you haven't got to mess around with a horse.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Alexander's work at the laundry would have involved deliveries
0:10:02 > 0:10:03all over London.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08He actually was quite proudly going around and showing
0:10:08 > 0:10:12what their company was doing with the lettering on the side
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and knowing he was a part of business,
0:10:15 > 0:10:17a crucial part of the business,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and no doubt felt very proud to be doing it.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23For a small laundry business, using a motor vehicle
0:10:23 > 0:10:26would have given them an edge over their competitors.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Because the van was faster at getting around,
0:10:30 > 0:10:34no doubt it expanded their area of operation.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37They were probably delivering to some of the smart hotels
0:10:37 > 0:10:38and places like that as well.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41So it would have all looked, I think, quite prestigious
0:10:41 > 0:10:45and he would have felt and no doubt was quite well placed really.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Snowflake Laundry was owned by Charles Edward Green
0:10:51 > 0:10:56and, in the office, the team were about to make a surprise connection.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00So when we looked up Douglas's birth, Douglas and McMurrich,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03we saw that his mother's maiden name was Green,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07and the daughter of Charles Edward Green, a laundry proprietor.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10But for the team,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Grace's surname of Green was proving to be the thorn in their side.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Green is a bit tricky to research,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19just because it's a very popular surname.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24With a big Scottish family on one side and a tricky name on the other,
0:11:24 > 0:11:25would the team find heirs
0:11:25 > 0:11:29to the £1 million estate of Douglas McMurrich?
0:11:29 > 0:11:31The sheer volume of the case
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and it's obviously, because it's got a good value,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37it's panic, panic, panic!
0:11:46 > 0:11:49I'm struggling to find contact details for this guy.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Sometimes when you're working a case, it doesn't happen very often,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55but you can come across somebody on your family tree
0:11:55 > 0:11:57that is either famous or infamous for whatever reason.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03In January 2016,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05heir hunting firm Finders in Central London
0:12:05 > 0:12:08took on the case of Percival Overbury.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12But little did they know the search for his heirs would
0:12:12 > 0:12:15reveal the story of a legendary British record producer.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Percival Overbury died in December 2015
0:12:25 > 0:12:28in a nursing home in Stroud in Gloucestershire.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Although there are no known photographs of Percival,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34he had spent the majority of his life
0:12:34 > 0:12:37living in the tight-knit village of Whitminster,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39and was a well known local figure.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42I remember him as a kind man.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Always immaculately dressed.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51I can never remember seeing him without a collar and tie.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I can never remember seeing him without a suit.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58When neighbour Honour Jones was a little girl,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02she lived just a stone's throw from Percival's home.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04He kept an immaculate house
0:13:04 > 0:13:09and I can remember, as a child, going to their house.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11The garden was always...
0:13:11 > 0:13:15It was beautiful. They had fruit trees.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17It was always immaculately kept.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24You try and trace them through and speak to them and find out
0:13:24 > 0:13:26whether they're related or not.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Percival had owned his own home but hadn't left a will
0:13:30 > 0:13:36so his valuable £325,000 estate was advertised by the Treasury,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39meaning other heir hunting firms may already be on the case.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43So given there was a relatively high value to this estate
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and we had picked up on the case
0:13:45 > 0:13:49but we didn't know whether there was going to be any competition on it.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52The pressure was on for case managers Ryan Gregory and Amy Cox
0:13:52 > 0:13:54to find the heirs first.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02The case of Percival Overbury came to us from a private referral.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06The only things we knew when we were referred the case
0:14:06 > 0:14:08were his name, date of death
0:14:08 > 0:14:12and that it had recently been passed to the Treasury solicitor.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14To save us coming across competition,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18we try and work these cases as urgently and as quickly as we can.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Thanks very much for doing the job.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22All right. Cheers then. Take care. Bye-bye.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27With no time to waste,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29the team began by searching for any close relatives...
0:14:31 > 0:14:34..and quickly made an important discovery.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37We found out quite early on
0:14:37 > 0:14:41that Percival Joseph Overbury was married.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Obviously this is important for us because any children of the marriage
0:14:44 > 0:14:46would be beneficiaries of his estate.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Likewise if there is a spouse that's surviving him,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52they would be entitled to inherit.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57But Ryan was unaware he was about to uncover a trail of tragedy.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Now the sad thing is with this family as we're working through it
0:15:01 > 0:15:02is that we actually found out
0:15:02 > 0:15:05that Percival was not only predeceased by his first wife,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08he was predeceased by his second wife as well.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Although Percival and his second wife, Doris, had two children,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Nigel and Nicholas, as Amy started delving a little deeper,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22it seems the tragedy in Percival's life came thick and fast.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25We found a death record for Percival Overbury's son
0:15:25 > 0:15:29that had been living with him and so what we did is went back to
0:15:29 > 0:15:32the records to see if there was any further issue from this marriage.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35We found another record
0:15:35 > 0:15:38for another son, that he had already passed away as an infant.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44And his second son, Nicholas, died just a few months before Perceval
0:15:44 > 0:15:46in 2015.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50It's a sad situation really, given that both wives
0:15:50 > 0:15:54had passed away and both sons had passed away just by a matter
0:15:54 > 0:15:58of months really so Percival was, in terms of close family members,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02kind of on his own in the later stages of his life.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Ryan's next port of call was to look for siblings.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Percival had an older brother called Leonard.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14But Ryan was about to uncover yet more misfortune.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17He was killed in action in World War II.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25He was predeceased by both his wives and both his sons and his brother,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27who was killed in action. I mean,
0:16:27 > 0:16:32you can't truly begin to think how anybody would deal with that.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Yeah, that would be good actually, get a few possible addresses.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Having ruled out close kin on this valuable estate,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47the team faced an uphill struggle
0:16:47 > 0:16:50as they started looking into the wider family.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Concerned rival firms may crack the case first,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58they decided to divide and conquer to speed things up.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02While Ryan took the maternal side,
0:17:02 > 0:17:03Amy worked the paternal side,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05and immediately hit a snag.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10We thought it was going to be quite a good surname to research
0:17:10 > 0:17:13but then it turned out, in the Gloucestershire area,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16it was actually quite common so we had to order quite a lot of births
0:17:16 > 0:17:21to establish how many aunts and uncles there were to Percival.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22But that wasn't all.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26The aunts and uncles moved out of area,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28so originally it had been all based in Gloucestershire
0:17:28 > 0:17:30but they had started to move around
0:17:30 > 0:17:34so that made searching the records a little bit trickier.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Despite this, they were able to make fairly quick progress.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42The team discovered that
0:17:42 > 0:17:44on the paternal side,
0:17:44 > 0:17:45Percival's grandparents,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Joseph Overbury and Mary Smart,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49had seven children...
0:17:50 > 0:17:52..giving Percival six aunts and uncles.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57And once we then decided to look into it a little bit deeper,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01we realised that there were only issue on the uncle,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03James William Overbury.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06So any of the heirs that were going to come from Overbury side
0:18:06 > 0:18:08of the family were going to come from this one uncle.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13With only one of the six stems to investigate,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Amy quickly uncovered 25 potential heirs...
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Hello. It's Ryan Gregory from London.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21We're a firm of heir hunters.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23..and the team was quietly confident they had
0:18:23 > 0:18:25the paternal side wrapped up.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29So for us, the paternal side of the family,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32the Overbury family, wasn't too much of a difficult search to find
0:18:32 > 0:18:34beneficiaries but it was really when
0:18:34 > 0:18:37we got into the maternal side of the family when things got interesting.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40And it would reveal that the family had one of Britain's
0:18:40 > 0:18:44most influential record producers in their midst.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48You know, that was his first big breakthrough really.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Margaret Thatcher's favourite record as well.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56Every year in Britain,
0:18:56 > 0:19:01thousands of people get a surprise knock on the door from heir hunters.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06I found that amazing that I had that side of the family
0:19:06 > 0:19:08that I didn't know existed.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12As well as handing over life-changing sums of money,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15the heir hunters can bring long-lost relatives back together.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20I'm so lucky... because I've met up with all of you.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26But thousands of estates have eluded the heir hunters
0:19:26 > 0:19:27and remain unsolved.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Today, we've got details of two estates yet to be claimed.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Could you be the person the heir hunters are looking for
0:19:36 > 0:19:37or know someone that is?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41The first case is Helen Miller.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Records suggests she was born
0:19:43 > 0:19:49in North London on the 13th of January in either 1910 or 1915...
0:19:51 > 0:19:56..and died on the 28th of September 1994 in Tottenham in North London.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01She was married to a Mr Miller, whom she outlived,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04but his forename is unknown.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Is there a chance you could be related
0:20:07 > 0:20:09or know someone that could be?
0:20:10 > 0:20:13The next case is Clarence Middlebrook,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17who was born on 7th September 1912 in Skipton in North Yorkshire...
0:20:20 > 0:20:24..and died on 28th February 1988 in Bradford.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28He never married but did have an older sister called Martha
0:20:28 > 0:20:30and a younger brother called Herbert.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Do you know a Miller or a Middlebrook?
0:20:34 > 0:20:38If so, you could be in line for a surprise windfall.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48All right. Thank you very much for your time. Take care. Bye-bye.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50The heir hunters at firm Fraser and Fraser
0:20:50 > 0:20:54have their work cut out finding heirs to the million-pound estate
0:20:54 > 0:20:55of Douglas McMurrich.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57It's a very large estate
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and it's one of the largest I've ever worked with.
0:21:00 > 0:21:01With research stretching
0:21:01 > 0:21:03both the teams London and Edinburgh offices...
0:21:04 > 0:21:07..a large Scottish family and the nightmare surname of Green
0:21:07 > 0:21:10have pushed the heir hunters to the limit.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13It was going quite well initially
0:21:13 > 0:21:17and then the tree just seemed to grow and grow.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19The case has now reached a critical stage.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Shall we say 25 anywhere else?
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Andrew Fraser is at a property auction in Central London
0:21:29 > 0:21:34where Douglas's home is about to go under the hammer.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Mr McMurrich's home is lot number five and it's just about to start.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40I'm very nervous about today's sale.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46It's a vacant three-bedroom mid-terrace house.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48It's an executor sale.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Ladies and gentlemen, good location, nice looking house.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54With the reserve price in excess of £1 million,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56it's going to be an anxious few minutes for Andrew.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Guide on this is a million pounds. Who'd like to start me off?
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Can I say a million pounds?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Million five?
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Yes? Million ten?
0:22:07 > 0:22:0815.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11Million 15. Million 20.
0:22:13 > 0:22:1425.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19We're not quite where we need to be on that one, I'm afraid.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Disappointing.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Didn't get to the reserve price.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25It's not the result Andrew hoped for
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and will mean Douglas's home will now be put on the market.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Douglas had lived in this house for most of his life
0:22:33 > 0:22:37and although heir hunters knew he'd never married or had children,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40it turned out he did have one lifelong companion.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Quite a friendly little creature.
0:22:45 > 0:22:5076 years old and going strong and mischievous.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Just like his owner.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Joey the tortoise was bought as a pet for Douglas
0:22:56 > 0:22:59when he was eight years old...
0:22:59 > 0:23:03and, over the next 75 years, they formed an inseparable bond.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07I think of Joey as being a part of Douglas,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11cos it's his lifelong companion, really is his lifelong companion.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Whilst clearing Douglas's house, a scrapbook was discovered.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Douglas had used it to document Joey's life in great detail.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28The file records what Joey's health was like in 1998
0:23:28 > 0:23:30and what he likes to eat.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34What Douglas has meticulously recorded is Joey's weight.
0:23:34 > 0:23:41Last one, interestingly enough, is in October 2015,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44so several months before his death.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48The records are a fascinating insight
0:23:48 > 0:23:50into Douglas's diligent nature.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53It also reveals some interesting history about Joey.
0:23:55 > 0:24:02The file also confirms that Joey was bought at Woolworths in 1938
0:24:02 > 0:24:04for six old pence money.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Thousands of tortoises just like Joey would have been bought
0:24:10 > 0:24:14over the counter in high street shops up and down the country.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22The tortoise trade started in the 1890s and it continued,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26with the exception of the war years,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28until the 1940...
0:24:28 > 0:24:30late '40s.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Tortoises may have quickly gained popularity
0:24:35 > 0:24:37but they were sold with very little information
0:24:37 > 0:24:40about how to look after them.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42No care sheets given.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46They were actually selling them with the message,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49they would eat insects in your yard.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56Douglas's tortoise Joey is still going strong at the age of 76,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59which says a lot about his owner.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05I think he probably was quite a caring and observant person
0:25:05 > 0:25:09because you wouldn't keep a tortoise alive for over 70 years
0:25:09 > 0:25:11if you weren't.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14It was probably a little boy that spent a lot of time looking at it,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19having a go at finding a little house,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23coming back from school, making sure it was out of the rain
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and, you know, once they get adjusted
0:25:26 > 0:25:28and they get fed,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30that is it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Before Douglas passed away he asked his neighbour Andrew if he would
0:25:34 > 0:25:36take care of Joey after he was gone.
0:25:38 > 0:25:46We're glad we could kind of complete our promise to his owner
0:25:46 > 0:25:47that we would look after him.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52As Joey was settling into his new home,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54the team's search for Douglas's relatives
0:25:54 > 0:25:57was turning into a mammoth task.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59What is going on here?
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The team in Scotland was looking for heirs on the paternal side
0:26:04 > 0:26:08but, having discovered Douglas's aunt Maggie had nine children,
0:26:08 > 0:26:13they faced an uphill struggle working through a whopping 14 stems.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17We have the paternal McMurrich,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19which is...
0:26:20 > 0:26:22..a very large tree, as you can see.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Too large for me to spread out all at once.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30The Scottish team had narrowed down the search to five stems
0:26:30 > 0:26:32and, after months of research,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35at last they had leads on potential heirs.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Oh, God, this is exciting.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42Meanwhile in London, Isha and Ben were working the paternal side.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44But with the common surname Green proving difficult,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47the team were hoping for a small family.
0:26:49 > 0:26:56Green, as a name, is a bit trickier to research.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59But Isha discovered one common thread that would
0:26:59 > 0:27:01help her build the family tree.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06So we've also got Jennie Winifred Green,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09another maternal aunt of the deceased
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and on her death certificate it says she was a spinster
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and a laundry manager
0:27:15 > 0:27:20and daughter of Charles Edward Green, laundry proprietor, deceased.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25So once again, they all seem to be running the same business
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and it makes it easier when we do look at the certificate,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31it's got a lot more information cos we can link it in.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36By focusing on the Greens who worked in the laundry trade,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40the team were able to narrow down their search and soon established
0:27:40 > 0:27:44that only two of Douglas's maternal aunts and uncles had children.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49One of the uncles was William Charles Edward Green
0:27:49 > 0:27:52who married Ada Kersey in 1911.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54They went on to have two children,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58Sydney Charles William Green and Constance Grace Green.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Constance was born in 1915, Sydney in 1913.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08Sydney and Constance were Douglas cousins and, although both had died,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11records show that Constance married and had two children.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15The team was closing in on their first heirs.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19What we would then do is use our various tracing resources
0:28:19 > 0:28:23to locate them up-to-date and speak to them about the family.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30For Constance's daughter Carole, a first cousin once removed,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32the news would come as a bolt out of the blue.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37This is Douglas outside Gransden Road.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42I'm not sure how old he is but I would presume perhaps he looks about
0:28:42 > 0:28:44seven at the most.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46Carole also grew up in London
0:28:46 > 0:28:49and has fond childhood memories of the time she spent with Douglas
0:28:49 > 0:28:50and his family.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55That is my aunt and uncle and Douglas.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58He looks as if he's a teenager there.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01It must be these cars that he loved so much,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03so he started early there.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09Douglas was...
0:29:09 > 0:29:15He was always very kind and very generous and he was good to be with.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19You always felt entertained by him.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22From the age of seven, Carole spent the school holidays helping out
0:29:22 > 0:29:26in Douglas's father's laundry business.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28The steam and that was awful.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30And I didn't want to be there.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36I'm sure I would much rather have been somewhere else but...
0:29:36 > 0:29:40I suppose, looking back, it was what happened in them days.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43That was the sort of thing - families helped out families.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46But in recent years, they drifted apart
0:29:46 > 0:29:47and Carole had no idea
0:29:47 > 0:29:51that Douglas's health had taken a turn for the worse.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53I was just so sad
0:29:53 > 0:29:55that none of us had been there.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59That was the only thing that really did upset me for a little while.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02I thought it was sad that he was on his own.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05Somehow that didn't seem right.
0:30:09 > 0:30:15After months of hard work, the team have located 26 potential heirs,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18and Andrew has another reason to smile,
0:30:18 > 0:30:20as there's also been a development with Douglas's property.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Following the auction sale,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27it was very disappointing the house didn't sell,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29but we've offered it on the market
0:30:29 > 0:30:31through a number of local estate agents
0:30:31 > 0:30:33and we've now accepted an offer
0:30:33 > 0:30:37and each of the beneficiaries will receive a nice sum of money.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43But there's one final chapter to the case.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46As Douglas passed away months before his heirs were found,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49none of his family could attend his funeral.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56But today, Andrew has arranged for Douglas's ashes to be interred,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59and it's an opportunity for his friends and family
0:30:59 > 0:31:01to pay their final respects.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07Although they might not have been in touch the last 30-plus years,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11they've all got memories and want to show their own respects.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Some of us on his mother's side of the family that will be here,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16and then also on his father's side.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18It's...
0:31:18 > 0:31:20quite surreal, to be honest with you,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24to think that we didn't know till after the event, if you like.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30Douglas was an intensely private, unassuming,
0:31:30 > 0:31:31independent person.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38Douglas's ashes are being placed in his family grave.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Very appropriate that we come here today,
0:31:41 > 0:31:47to this grave, where his parents, Alexandra and Grace, are buried,
0:31:47 > 0:31:53together with his brother Laurence, who died aged just five in 1933.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Sad, obviously, but
0:31:57 > 0:32:01- it's sort of finalised everything. - Yeah.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Nice to think that they're all together now.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Today has turned out to be, I think, a very good occasion.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12I'm sure Douglas, in his heart, would have been pleased as to
0:32:12 > 0:32:14how today has gone.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27In London, the heir-hunting team at firm Finders were desperately trying
0:32:27 > 0:32:31to find beneficiaries to the estate of Percival Overbury...
0:32:31 > 0:32:34The only things that we knew when we were referred the case
0:32:34 > 0:32:36were his name and date of death.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39..and unravel the mystery of his forgotten family.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44With an estate worth £325,000 waiting to be claimed...
0:32:45 > 0:32:47..Ryan and the team were determined
0:32:47 > 0:32:49to pip their rival firms to the post...
0:32:49 > 0:32:53We had a few of us in the office working on
0:32:53 > 0:32:55the different stems of the family tree.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58..and be the first to find Percival Overbury's heirs.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05With no immediate family to inherit,
0:33:05 > 0:33:07the team was forced to delve a little deeper.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11Amy's search into Percival's paternal side
0:33:11 > 0:33:13had been relatively easy,
0:33:13 > 0:33:15uncovering 25 potential heirs.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20But Ryan and the team were now tackling the maternal side,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24which would prove to be far tougher than they originally imagined.
0:33:24 > 0:33:30The indexes told us that Percival's mother was Louise or Louisa Blanche.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31Birt was her maiden name,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Birt spelt B-I-R-T.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Again, we're thinking that that surname is not going to
0:33:36 > 0:33:38cause us too many problems.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41However, when Ryan began researching it further,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44he discovered that Louise Birt was one of eight children.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Ryan's workload had just got a whole lot heavier
0:33:50 > 0:33:53and, with the clock ticking, Amy was called in to lend a hand
0:33:53 > 0:33:56and soon made an unusual discovery.
0:33:57 > 0:34:03When we started looking at the stem of the maternal aunt, Caroline Birt,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06we saw that she married and she had four children
0:34:06 > 0:34:11and when we looked at the name of her eldest daughter,
0:34:11 > 0:34:16we realised it was the same person who had married Percival Overbury,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19so it looks as though Percival married one of his maternal cousins.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24Discovering Percival had married his cousin
0:34:24 > 0:34:25wouldn't be the only surprise.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32Ryan was now looking into the stem of Percival's maternal aunt, Evelyn,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and had established she had married Alfred Meek.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40The couple had four children, Arthur, Robert, Eric and Pamela.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45The last born of the four was Pamela Edith Rose Meek.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49She married a Richard Williams and they had two children,
0:34:49 > 0:34:50who are also entitled to inherit.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54Ryan was close to finding his first heirs.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06I'm still coming to terms with the shock of it all, really.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10One of them is Pamela Meek's daughter, Sandra.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16This is Joan, this is Percy's wife.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21That's Joan's mother, so she's Nanny's sister,
0:35:21 > 0:35:27so that's the closest to the two that we've got.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Despite losing touch with Percival and Joan in her adult life,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36the news of their passing has triggered fond memories of childhood
0:35:36 > 0:35:38meetings with her uncle and aunt.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41I can remember Percy and Joan and Nicholas
0:35:41 > 0:35:45coming over for afternoon tea on Sundays.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50And Auntie Joan, she always dressed absolutely immaculate.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53She always had lovely hair.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Very, very smart lady, very attractive.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03All right, thank you. Bye-bye.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10At Finders HQ, Ryan was continuing research into the Meek stem.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Little did he know he was on the verge
0:36:12 > 0:36:14of making a remarkable discovery.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18On the line of Eric Charles Meek,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21we found out that he married Marlene Williams
0:36:21 > 0:36:23and they had three children together,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25one of whom was Robert Meek.
0:36:28 > 0:36:29I got a call from Heir Hunters
0:36:29 > 0:36:32telling me that one of my relatives died,
0:36:32 > 0:36:37Percival Overbury, who was, would be my great uncle, I think,
0:36:37 > 0:36:42but I never actually really knew him, so it was all news to me.
0:36:44 > 0:36:49Robert is another beneficiary to Percival's sizeable estate,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53but it was what he revealed about his uncle, also called Robert Meek,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55that left Ryan and the team stunned.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00The key bit of information that we wouldn't necessarily know unless
0:37:00 > 0:37:03we spoke to him - his uncle was also known as Joe Meek.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08His uncle, Joe Meek, was actually a famous record producer,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10so he was big in the '60s.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16From his humble, rural upbringing,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Joe Meek rose to stardom to become one of the most influential
0:37:19 > 0:37:21record producers of the last century.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27Since he was a boy, Joe was always interested in electronics.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30When he was young, he was always tinkering with stuff.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33He would take radios apart and put them back together.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37He was supposedly the one that made one of the first televisions
0:37:37 > 0:37:42in Newent, which people used to come and watch, back in the '50s.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44He was a very clever man.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48When he grew up, Joe left Gloucestershire and moved to London,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51where he worked at IBC Studios as a sound engineer.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Hope you don't mind me wearing my glasses to do this,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01cos I can't see otherwise.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05That's it.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10In 1954, Adrian Kerridge started working as Joe's assistant
0:38:10 > 0:38:12and, over the years, they became firm friends.
0:38:14 > 0:38:20We travelled to record radio shows and this was taken in March 1956.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Adrian was about to witness Joe
0:38:25 > 0:38:29change the landscape of popular music forever.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32It's indisputable, that guy's talent.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36He was the guy that started some of the modern recording techniques,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38close-miking techniques,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40doing unusual things with microphones.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43There were wires everywhere.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Nobody knew what went to where and what he hung on what,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48but he got results.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00In 1962, Joe had his biggest success to date as his composing skills
0:39:00 > 0:39:02combined with his pioneering recording techniques
0:39:02 > 0:39:06came together to produce a record called Telstar.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08MUSIC: Telstar by The Tornados
0:39:11 > 0:39:14Joe's record saw huge international success
0:39:14 > 0:39:16as the second UK single to
0:39:16 > 0:39:20hit number one in the United States charts.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Telstar, with its box-like drum sound,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27was all pumping and it all reverbed and it was in your face
0:39:27 > 0:39:29and that's Joe.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38You know, that was his first big breakthrough, really.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Margaret Thatcher's favourite record, as well.
0:39:40 > 0:39:45It was just when I heard it, I thought, "Wow, that's Joe."
0:39:45 > 0:39:47It was his audio signature.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51By the mid-60s, Joe was at the height of his career
0:39:51 > 0:39:54and was one of the most in demand producers in London.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Because of what he was doing, the techniques he used,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01people requested Joe.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04He worked with Petula Clark, Shirley Bassey, Winifred Atwell,
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Mr Joe "Piano" Henderson, Frankie Vaughan,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Edmund Hockridge and so on.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Worked with all of these people.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Brian Epstein offered him The Beatles, and he turned them down.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20Despite his growing popularity,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23he didn't forget about his family back home.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25I've got memories of him coming down from London,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29and he'd always come down with loads of presents.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35And he used to like Toffee Crisps,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40so he went into the shop and he actually bought the whole box,
0:40:40 > 0:40:44which, in those days, it was just incredible.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51But, unbeknownst to his family,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Joe's world was soon going to come crashing down.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59No-one really knew what was going on in Joe's head back home.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01Obviously things were pretty dark in London...
0:41:03 > 0:41:09..and well, it all ended on... when it did on the 5th of February.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15On that date in 1967,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19five years after the release of his hit record Telstar,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Joe tragically murdered his neighbour, who was a close friend,
0:41:23 > 0:41:25before taking his own life.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Nobody will actually know what was going on in that flat, in that day.
0:41:32 > 0:41:33We can all speculate, but...
0:41:35 > 0:41:40Joe was taken away before his time and it was very, very sad.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44I was saddened, Dennis Preston was saddened.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45It shouldn't have happened...
0:41:45 > 0:41:49but volatility rules.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58Joe had no children, so there are no further beneficiaries from his stem.
0:42:00 > 0:42:01With the case now wrapped up,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06all of Ryan and the team's efforts have paid off.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11It's always really satisfying to manage to crack a large family tree,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14especially as quickly as we managed to do in this case.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17And, we managed to avoid any competition,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19which is always a really great success for us.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24There's certain cases that we pick up over the years
0:42:24 > 0:42:28and they kind of become kind of dinner party conversation topics,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31if you like. We don't go into too much details
0:42:31 > 0:42:33of exactly what really happened,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36but there's key stories that may jump out.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39That's what happened in this case with the connection
0:42:39 > 0:42:41between Percival and Joe Meek.
0:42:42 > 0:42:48Percival's £325,000 estate will be divided up between 46 heirs,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50including Sandra and Rob,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53who's spending his share on landscaping his garden
0:42:53 > 0:42:55in honour of Percival.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58I'm going to call it the Percival Overbury Garden,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01cos I couldn't have afforded to get it done without it.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Just going to put the plaque over there
0:43:03 > 0:43:05and call it the Perceval Overbury Garden.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08A nice few flowers around it
0:43:08 > 0:43:11and hopefully it'll be a fitting tribute to the man.