0:00:02 > 0:00:07Heir hunters track down the families of people who died without leaving a will.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10They hand over thousands of pounds to long-lost relatives
0:00:10 > 0:00:13who had no idea they were in line for a windfall.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Could they be knocking at your door?
0:00:32 > 0:00:39On today's programme, the heir hunters track down a relative, but it leaves them uneasy.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44It should never have been a case. Something like this should never have been a case.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48And in tracing the heirs to a £1 million property,
0:00:48 > 0:00:53the researchers uncover a woman's life full of lies, glamour and espionage.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Joyce has lived a lie,
0:00:55 > 0:01:01telling people she was 30 years younger than her real date of birth.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05And we'll have details of some of the hundreds of unclaimed estates.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Could you be in line for a windfall?
0:01:08 > 0:01:12More than two-thirds of people die without leaving a will.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17If no obvious relatives are found, their money goes to the Government,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22and last year they made a staggering £18 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24That's where the heir hunters step in.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Which is why the cousins, such as you, end up inheriting.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35There are more than 30 heir-hunting companies who make it their business to track down the rightful kin.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41In 2008, they claimed back £6.5 million for unsuspecting heirs
0:01:41 > 0:01:44who would have otherwise gone empty-handed.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48It's an amazing job we do, and it's got so much energy running through it.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00It's 7.00am at Fraser and Fraser, one of the oldest heir-hunting companies in London.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06The Treasury's list of people who have died without leaving a will has been announced.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13Heir hunters work on commission, so the first priority is to quickly work out which cases are of value
0:02:13 > 0:02:16and then assign them to teams in the office.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19It's a nursing home housing association,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23and that's unregistered, so that's going to be council of some sort.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28They've already identified a case worth £200,000 to prioritise.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34We're looking at a case of Williams, it's Anthony Alfred Edward Williams.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38He died in Bedford in '08, and I'm fairly certain
0:02:38 > 0:02:40he owns the property.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49Anthony Williams died aged 82 in his run-down house in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53He had an active youth as an RAF serviceman, but in his old age,
0:02:53 > 0:02:59he became more reclusive, as neighbour Caroline Hennessy recalls.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05As friendly as I tried to be, I'd put my face in his face and say, "Morning," or, "Afternoon,"
0:03:05 > 0:03:08he would look at me and look beyond me, as it were,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13and mumble something like, "Mad woman won't leave me alone."
0:03:13 > 0:03:16But you didn't get much of a response from him.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18He was happy doing his own thing.
0:03:18 > 0:03:25Although Tony appeared to be content, he was a private man and valued his independence.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Tony wanted to be left alone.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29He didn't want to go into a home.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33He didn't want to die in hospital. He wanted to be left at home alone.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37And that's the life he chose, and that's the way he went.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Tony never wrote a will, so his estate, including his house,
0:03:41 > 0:03:47which could be worth as much as £200,000, will all go to the Government if no heirs can be traced.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54The starting point for the heir hunters
0:03:54 > 0:03:58is to try and get hold of Tony's birth and death certificates.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03These will have details of his parents on them and possibly of other family members.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08They can then use this information to start building up a family tree,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12layer by layer, which could lead them to siblings, uncles, aunts
0:04:12 > 0:04:15or cousins, any of whom could inherit.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20But Tony's surname is not the easiest to research.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Unfortunately, the surname is Williams.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25It's going to be pretty hard because it's very common.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It comes out in Dunstable, which is up in Bedfordshire,
0:04:28 > 0:04:32just on the border of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Williams is the third most common surname in the country.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39At least the team know Tony's two middle initials,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43which should make it easier to make sure they're researching the right man.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45But they could do with a few more leads to go on,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and one of the ways they generate them is to hit the road.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Heir-hunting doesn't just happen in the office.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01The firm have travelling employees who act as their eyes and ears up and down the country,
0:05:01 > 0:05:07doing detective work and getting their hands on key documents, and when heirs have been found,
0:05:07 > 0:05:13it's these travellers who speed over to sign them up before the other companies and get their commission.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23Case manager David Pacifico is phoning one of the company's senior researchers, Ewart Lindsay,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26to ask him to call on Tony Williams' neighbours.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32One of today's cases comes out in Dunstable.
0:05:32 > 0:05:39And, er, I've got to go and do an inquiry where the deceased used to live...
0:05:40 > 0:05:46..and see what information I can find about the deceased.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51In the office, the team are using their births, deaths and marriages records
0:05:51 > 0:05:54to build and verify Tony's family tree.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59We've just found the marriage of the parents.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02The mother is Mabel Reynolds. We're cross-referencing at the moment.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08The researchers found that Tony Williams' parents were Percy and Mabel.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Now they can extend the search to see if he had any brothers or sisters who would be possible heirs.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23While Ewart is on his way to Tony's hometown
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and the researchers are cross-checking records,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29other members of the team are phoning Tony's neighbours.
0:06:29 > 0:06:36Just one lucky phone call could save hours of research if they get a neighbour who knew Tony well.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39I wonder whether your family knew him at all. We're trying to find his next of kin.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43No knowledge of him at all? Thank you for your time, anyway.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I'm sorry to disturb you. Bye-bye.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50No luck for case manager Marcus, but elsewhere in the office they've come up with a lead.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57This neighbour here stated that the deceased lived alone for over 23 years
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and owned a property which is in a bad state of repair now.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05I spoke to another neighbour who was convinced he had been previously married.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Although it's only hearsay at this stage, if Tony was married,
0:07:08 > 0:07:13his wife could be the heir, or their children, if they had any.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15But the neighbour also thinks that they separated.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19It doesn't necessarily mean that they were divorced,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and if there isn't a valid divorce, then she would be the first heir,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26she would have the greatest entitlement.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31If Tony and his wife had separated but not divorced, under British inheritance law,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33that would mean she would still inherit
0:07:33 > 0:07:38because the spouse is always at the top of the list of potential heirs.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Only a divorce can annul the spouse's claim to the inheritance.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47In Dunstable, Ewart is hoping to get hold of Tony's neighbours
0:07:47 > 0:07:51before they leave for work to find out what they knew about him.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04DOORBELL RINGS
0:08:05 > 0:08:07He's not having much luck.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19But just as he's about to leave, his luck changes.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23He did say that he had a sister,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26er...you know, in passing conversation.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I think she lived round
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- the Reading or Oxford area. - OK, all right.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34It's a coup for Ewart.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38After spouses, if there are no surviving children or parents,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41siblings are the next in line to inherit.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47So if Tony's sister has outlived Tony's wife, she would be entitled to his entire estate.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50But Ewart isn't the first to get the news.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55They've already picked this up at the office and pipped him to the post.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59We've found the birth of a sister of the deceased, which is interesting news.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05Her name is Margaret. It's extremely important to track down the sister, a very close relation.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12There are now two very close potential heirs.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18But who will inherent Tony Williams' £200,000 estate - his wife or his sister?
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Although heir hunters aim to find relatives as quickly as possible to beat their competitors,
0:09:32 > 0:09:38the more complex cases can leave them foxed for weeks or months before they get solved.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Joyce Hanafy's was one such case.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46This case of Hanafy was particularly hard,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50and every little breakthrough helped show us a picture.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55As the researchers slowly unravelled the story of her life,
0:09:55 > 0:10:03they discovered a glamorous woman who was involved in the performing arts, modelling and even espionage.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08But Joyce's circumstances at the end of her life were very different from those in her youth.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16She died in 2006 in a nursing home in Wandsworth, London.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19No-one there knew of any family to claim her estate
0:10:19 > 0:10:22or organise her funeral, and so it was overseen by the council
0:10:22 > 0:10:28Shirley Heaver and Wendy Allison work at the nursing home where Joyce died.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32She was a very private lady, um...
0:10:32 > 0:10:35She told us that she did ballet.
0:10:35 > 0:10:42Whether she taught it or...danced it, we don't know.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45She only wanted to tell you what she wanted to.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48And you would try to pump her, but she'd clam up.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53We didn't think she had any family, um...
0:10:53 > 0:10:59She sort of really was a recluse, that's how I would have taken her.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03She had a lodger...but that was it.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07But this private woman had several secrets,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11not least the fact that she owned a very valuable property.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14She lived in Putney in a £1 million house
0:11:14 > 0:11:17that was actually falling down around her.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23And, like, we was like, "My God."
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Couldn't believe it!
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Joyce didn't leave a will, and as no-one knew of any family,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34her £1 million house went onto the Treasury's unclaimed estates list.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Straightaway, Neil Fraser knew this was a case they had to crack.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45When we're dealing with an estate advertised at £1 million,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48it means we have to be on our A game.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52One little slip could mean a fortune to the firm.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54It could make or break our year.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00Neil set about working up the Hanafy family tree, starting with Joyce herself.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06The date of death is in 2006, the death is registered in Kingston,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11and when we've got the certificate, it clearly says her date of birth is 11th July 1952.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16Now Neil knew when Joyce was born, but if he could find her birth certificate,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20he would know the name of her parents.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24When we look on the birth indexes, there isn't a corresponding birth for her.
0:12:24 > 0:12:31At this point, Neil decided it was time to up the ante and get more manpower on the case.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34There are only a few Hanafys in the country in the early 1900s,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37so finding any instance of it could provide a clue.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Because we're working a good name, we're listing everything.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Every occurrence of the surname, we'll write it down, we'll take it out.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51We'll be looking at deaths, marriages, births all at the same time.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53On a case of this size, we'd stick the whole office on it.
0:12:53 > 0:12:59We'd have quite a lot of staff all researching and all doing their own little bit of research.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03The £1 million property that the office was working to find heirs for
0:13:03 > 0:13:07had been in the Hanafy family for 60 years.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Despite its value, Joyce's wealth was tied up in its bricks and mortar.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15She had no income to maintain the house, and it fell into disrepair.
0:13:15 > 0:13:22What little money came in was from lodgers like Martin Geoff, who moved into the Putney house in 1995.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29On occasions, I said to her that it would make sense for her
0:13:29 > 0:13:33to actually considering selling up and moving to another part of London
0:13:33 > 0:13:35where she could start again as a landlady
0:13:35 > 0:13:42with better conditions and have a better income, and she would simply not entertain this.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46So the house was a part of her. It was as if she was
0:13:46 > 0:13:50on kind of an elastic band
0:13:50 > 0:13:55that she could only go so far and it would reel her back in again.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Joyce's insistence on remaining in the house with no means of maintaining it
0:14:00 > 0:14:04led to its eventual dilapidation, and it is now uninhabitable.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Andrew Fraser is at the property for an inspection.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15One of the partners in the company, Andrew trained as a surveyor,
0:14:15 > 0:14:20and his role in the company is to represent heirs in the sales of properties and other assets.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23We're in Putney, in a very desirable part of London,
0:14:23 > 0:14:29where this property is surrounded by multimillion-pound homes.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33And it's particularly sad when we come and look through a house,
0:14:33 > 0:14:39and we see that someone has all this paper wealth tied up in their assets,
0:14:39 > 0:14:46but they have no money at all to spend on living and enjoy life with.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51I think in this room we just clear it up, make it safe.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Get the gas cut off.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Although the house is less valuable than others on the street
0:14:57 > 0:14:58because of ruinous state,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02it will still represent a huge windfall to any heirs once it has been sold.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12In the office, the team had been researching every instance of the name Hanafy throughout the 1900s.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18It was such a rare name that each occurrence could provide a clue to finding members of Joyce's family.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22But they hit a stumbling block when it came to Joyce herself.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27On the screen here, we have a Joyce A Hanafy,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31the birth for her, but that birth is in 1922.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34The dates didn't match.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Joyce's death certificate stated she died aged 54, but the birth record
0:15:38 > 0:15:43they had found for a Joyce Hanafy said she was born 30 years earlier.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Could it be people believed this glamorous woman was 30 years younger than she really was?
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Although we occasionally get variations in the age of the deceased,
0:15:57 > 0:16:03the date of birth, and I've known of two, three, four, maybe even five years' difference
0:16:03 > 0:16:07from the date of birth on the death certificate to the real date of birth.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11No-one has ever heard of anyone being registered 30 years out.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I was pretty convinced we've got the right birth.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Everything seemed to fit.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20There was births around, deaths around. Everything seems to tie up
0:16:20 > 0:16:22being a typing error on the death certificate,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and instead of saying 1922, it says 1952.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27But there was no such luck for Neil.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31This turned out to be far from a straightforward typing error.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36We got to speak to the nursing home where Joyce passed away.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41Now, they were convinced she had told everyone she was only 54 years of age
0:16:41 > 0:16:44and the 1952 date of birth was actually the correct one.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47So it wasn't a typing error at all,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49and this suddenly...our heart sunk.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54We thought we'd been working the wrong family, we had put 2 and 2 together, we'd made 22.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57It all seemed to fit, but there was something wrong.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03As the nursing home had confirmed that Joyce was in her 50s, Neil was stuck.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06There was only one instance of a Joyce Hanafy,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10but no-one could understand why the records of her birth year were so different.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16Unless they could make the dates tie up, the £1 million property would remain unclaimed.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23To move the case on, they started researching Joyce's parents.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Joyce's father was doctor.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29I don't know much about him at all.
0:17:29 > 0:17:36I understood that he had been in uniform, in the Army perhaps.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39But she never really went into any details about that.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44Doctors are relatively easy to research for heir hunters, because in order to practise,
0:17:44 > 0:17:51it's a legal requirement that their details are kept on record in the medical registers.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54So Neil looked for a Dr Hanafy who could have been Joyce's father.
0:17:54 > 0:18:01In this book here from 1921, it has the entry for John Zaky Hanafy.
0:18:01 > 0:18:07With this being from 1921, it's only a year before the birth certificate we have of Joyce.
0:18:07 > 0:18:13So we have enough evidence to prove that John Zaky Hanafy is the father.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17He's in the right place at the right time to have a child called Joyce.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20So everything ties up with this being the right gentleman.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23We can trace his movements back around the country,
0:18:23 > 0:18:30enabling us to say that he is the same gentleman who also lived down in Putney in southeast London
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and it's the same family as what we're trying to look for.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39The medical journals prove that Dr John Zaky Hanafy lived in the same district as Joyce.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47They also indicated that he had an outstanding career as a doctor.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50It also has his OBE in here.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55In 1921, he had an OBE, and he was only qualified in 1914,
0:18:55 > 0:19:00so he's done something quite dramatic in those six or seven years since he qualified.
0:19:00 > 0:19:08John Zaky Hanafy emigrated from Egypt to London to study medicine in the early 1900s.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11He had only just sat his medical exams at the Royal College of Surgeons
0:19:11 > 0:19:14when World War One broke out.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17During the Great War, he worked at the King George military hospital,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22which was on London's South Bank, dealing with victims of horrendous trench warfare.
0:19:22 > 0:19:28Half of fighting soldiers were injured, maimed or shell-shocked, and 10% died.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31It must have been a terrifying training ground for a young surgeon,
0:19:31 > 0:19:36but one where he could have made an enormous difference.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41John Zaky Hanafy was awarded an OBE for his services as a surgeon in 1920.
0:19:45 > 0:19:51All the dates, records and locations the team had found were pointing to the fact that they had found
0:19:51 > 0:19:57the right family, apart from one, Joyce Hanafy's death certificate which said she was born in 1952.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02This date seemed to contradict everything they were finding.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08In an attempt to get to the bottom of it,
0:20:08 > 0:20:13senior researcher Bob Barratt went down to Joyce's neighbourhood in Putney.
0:20:13 > 0:20:20I called on the neighbours of Joyce to see if I could find anything out about her or relatives.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25They all described her in much the same way, as a bit of an eccentric, a bit of a loner,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28altogether quite a strange woman.
0:20:28 > 0:20:36No-one knew much about her family, but they did describe her as being in her mid-70s.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39This news was a godsend for Neil.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43The neighbours all thought that Joyce Hanafy was much older than 54,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47which strengthened his belief that the date on her death certificate was wrong.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52Everything started to make sense, and I started to have more confidence
0:20:52 > 0:20:55that we were researching the right family.
0:20:55 > 0:21:03Joyce was in fact 84 years old when she died and had disguised her true date of birth to everyone.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08The news came as a big shock to Shirley and Wendy at the nursing home.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12- She had a very young face, didn't she?- Yeah, she did.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Unbelievable, honestly.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- I remember saying, "She's younger than me."- Yeah.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21I mean, we first was told she was in her 50s.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25I would have said...60s, late 60s.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27She had lovely skin.
0:21:27 > 0:21:34Well, finding out that Joyce was in her 80s...is really quite amazing.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39Joyce had managed to convince nearly everyone she was 30 years younger than she was,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44which explained why her death certificate had the wrong birth date on.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Usually, when we're dealing with official documents,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52we find that people don't lie, that people tell the truth, but there may be mistakes on them.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57It's less common for people to lie their whole life about their age.
0:21:57 > 0:22:05Joyce has lived a lie, telling people she was 30 years younger than her real date of birth.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08That's a huge time period.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12And she must have been a good-looking woman to get away with that for so long.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18A major obstacle to solving the case had been removed,
0:22:18 > 0:22:26but the research would throw up even more surprises - espionage, fighter pilots and a trip to Egypt.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40For every case that is solved, there are still those that stubbornly remain a mystery.
0:22:40 > 0:22:46Currently, over 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope
0:22:53 > 0:22:58that eventually someone will remember and come forward to claim their inheritance.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07With estates valued at anything from 5,000 to millions of pounds,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16Margaret Sullivan, of Reading in Berkshire, died in April 2007.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Does her name bring memories flooding back?
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Could she even be a distant relative of yours?
0:23:22 > 0:23:28Spinster Olive Thurston died in Boston in Lincolnshire in December 2006.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Over two years later, her estate is still unclaimed.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33Do you know anything about her?
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Could you even be related and missing out on your inheritance?
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Fraser and Fraser have been working on the case of Tony Williams.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51It's still only 9.00am,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55but they've learned from a neighbour that Tony had a wife who may still be alive.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58They also know he had a sister who, after his wife,
0:23:58 > 0:24:03would be next in line to inherit the estate of £200,000.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06But so far, they haven't traced either of them.
0:24:08 > 0:24:14We need to find the wife's name and then check to see if there is a divorce.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18At the same time, obviously, we're looking for the sister to see if she was married.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21And we'll also be looking at
0:24:21 > 0:24:25near kin of that, cousins and so on.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Gareth has been given the job of finding Tony's extended family.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32He's using the census, which is a record made every ten years
0:24:32 > 0:24:36of all the people who live in UK households.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39It should reveal whether Tony's parents had brothers and sisters.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43While he does this, David is trying to find Tony's wife.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48We've now found the deceased's marriage.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51If the inquiry is right and she walked out,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54we have to find her and find out whether they're divorced,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58if she's still alive. She could still be married to him.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03It's been confirmed that Tony married a Ruby Leno in 1954,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06but they still need to find out whether she is alive.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Gareth's search is also producing results.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14There's an uncle of the deceased called Lewis...
0:25:15 > 0:25:19..so I'm hoping... I've got his marriage and I've got a couple of kids.
0:25:21 > 0:25:27And hopefully we'll be able to get the first cousin up to date, and we can speak to them.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Now the investigation could go in many directions.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38The team not only know that Tony had a wife and a sister,
0:25:38 > 0:25:44but they've also found an uncle and three potential first cousins on his mother's side.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Because we're such a large firm as we are
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and we have so many researchers working on stuff,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56we can actually work the wife of the deceased, looking for kin off that,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59the sister of the deceased, looking for nephews and nieces,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04all near kin, as well as working the cousins, so we're working on three different prongs at the moment.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Hopefully, one of them will come through.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08One of them might be about to.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12David Pacifico has some breaking news.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16We've now traced a marriage for the sister, and it looks like
0:26:16 > 0:26:19she's still alive, and we've got an address and phone number,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24so I'm now going to try the call to her and hope I'm not too late.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Finding Tony's sister is a breakthrough,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32but as his details were on the unclaimed estates list,
0:26:32 > 0:26:38it's possible that she hasn't had news of his death, so the phone call may not be an easy one.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42We're trying to trace a Margaret Rush whose maiden name would be Williams.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47And hopefully you might be the daughter of a Percy Williams?
0:26:47 > 0:26:53Now, I believe, and I'm sorry to say this, but you had a brother, I think.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59Right. I'm sorry to say unfortunately he has since passed away.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04David has had to break the news of Tony's death.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08It's a call the heir hunters dread, and none of them envy him.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Because we don't know the relationship between the deceased
0:27:12 > 0:27:17and the near kin, whether that's a sister or a child or a wife even,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20because we don't know the relationship or what happened,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24why they've lost contact, it's difficult for us to approach it
0:27:24 > 0:27:31or know how to approach it, so we just have to be as gentle and considerate as possible.
0:27:32 > 0:27:38You never know how someone's going to react, it's very difficult.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42David now has to find out whether Tony's wife is alive or divorced
0:27:42 > 0:27:46to work out whether his sister Margaret will inherit.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50The thing we're also trying to identify, that he was married, I believe?
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Oh, she passed away?
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Was that Ruby at all? Right.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06Margaret has revealed that Tony and his wife were in fact happily married,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10but that she died 35 years ago and there were no children,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14which means Margaret is the sole heir to the £200,000 estate.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19But she was closer to her brother than David expected.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Oh, that was... She got a birthday card back in February from her brother.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32Can you believe? Yeah.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Didn't see much of him, but had a birthday card.
0:28:37 > 0:28:43Tony was in touch with Margaret just two months before he died, yet the various authorities
0:28:43 > 0:28:46who are responsible for making the arrangements
0:28:46 > 0:28:50after a body is discovered all failed to track her down.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54As a result, seven months have gone by without her knowing of his death.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58David Pacifico is astonished.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01She got a birthday card from her brother in February.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03When did he die?
0:29:03 > 0:29:05April.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09So she knows exactly where he lived. The wife dies 35 years ago.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Dies 35 years ago?
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Now the heir has been confirmed, the office need to send someone
0:29:15 > 0:29:18to see her who can handle the case with care.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22Ewart is a sensitive guy, can be rather sensitive,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25so hopefully, you know...we'll see how it goes.
0:29:29 > 0:29:35Often you are the first, you know, person to give them that shocking news
0:29:35 > 0:29:40that their brother has died or their mother has died, you know,
0:29:40 > 0:29:46and, yes, you're seeing that initial shock on their face straight off, you know.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51It's a... It can be difficult at times.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55The case is coming to a close, and now the team just have to confirm
0:29:55 > 0:30:00the facts they've learned from David's phone call to Tony's sister.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05What did the deceased's sister say about...Ruby?
0:30:05 > 0:30:12Ruby died definitely 35 years ago, and she said she's buried in Slip End Cemetery in Dunstable.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14It's only 10.00am.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19As the rest of the office continues to be a hive of activity while they work other cases,
0:30:19 > 0:30:24David is reflecting on how the system failed for his.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26It should never have been a case.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29Something like this should never have been a case.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32I mean, for her to get a birthday card in February
0:30:32 > 0:30:36and then not know he's died, I can't figure this one out.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39So she's going to be in his address book.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41- Yeah.- Probably under "sister".
0:30:41 > 0:30:43It should never have been a case.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48It's so ridiculous that somebody like us would have to come along and tell her several months later.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55Ewart has been in a delicate meeting with Margaret, Tony Williams' sister,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58who has been taking in the news of her brother's death.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Even though she's still in a state of shock
0:31:07 > 0:31:11about finding out about the news about her brother dying, but, er...
0:31:11 > 0:31:15at least she signed, and we'll take care of it for her.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26After Ewart's visit, Margaret is left to reflect on the morning's unexpected news.
0:31:26 > 0:31:32It took me a little while to...to...what he was on about.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37And then it suddenly occurred to me, and I said, "Tony Williams is my brother."
0:31:40 > 0:31:44And so I said, "What has happened to him? Where...
0:31:44 > 0:31:46"Is there something wrong?"
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and he said, "I'm afraid your brother has died."
0:31:50 > 0:31:54Well, it was just like something sort of being, you know...
0:31:54 > 0:31:58I really was taken aback.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01She and Tony were once close.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08When his wife died, and she was only 47,
0:32:08 > 0:32:15we became very close then, because he would come here and we used to go on holiday together.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18And he really did enjoy himself.
0:32:22 > 0:32:29Over time, Tony grew more solitary, and it became difficult for Margaret to stay in touch.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33He had his phone removed, which really made me cross
0:32:33 > 0:32:40because I couldn't contact him, and I thought that was so silly.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45And getting to the age that he was and not having a telephone was quite absurd.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48He contacted me on somebody's pay phone,
0:32:48 > 0:32:54and he always used to only have a certain amount of money,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57so the conversation couldn't go on too long
0:32:57 > 0:33:02and I wouldn't ask too many questions! SHE LAUGHS
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Tony's isolation delayed news of his death reaching Margaret.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11But now that it has, his £200,000 estate will go to her.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15I might buy a decent bottle of something and toast Tony.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17He'd agree with that.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20SHE LAUGHS
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Although Tony chose solitude towards the end of his life,
0:33:25 > 0:33:30he was remembered by his sister and ultimately reconnected with her thanks to the heir hunters.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42It only took a few hours' work to solve Tony Williams' case,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46but it took the heir hunters several weeks to complete Joyce Hanafy's.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51Andrew Fraser assessed her £1 million house before it was sold.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56Well, what I did locate in the house were these photographs of what would appear to be
0:33:56 > 0:34:03a very glamorous potential lifestyle she lived in London in the 1960s.
0:34:03 > 0:34:10And again we have some earlier photographs of what would appear to be Joyce on stage as a dancer.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18The items in Joyce's house paint a picture of a woman who led an exciting life,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22performing ballet, modelling and working in the nightclubs of Soho.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25It seemed that Joyce was no shrinking violet.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35The team had found records for Joyce's father.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Now the search was on for her mother.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Once they had found both parents, they would be able to look for siblings,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44nephews or nieces who could inherit.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49But anxious to get ahead of the game, Neil was taking a guess on a Hanafy he'd found in London.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59In this case, I tried to cut out a corner, I tried to beat that process,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01because we'd already identified a death,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04a death of a Florence Mary Hanafy in Wandsworth,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and I was fairly confident that was going to be the mother.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10Neil thought he'd stumbled on Joyce's mother.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16Florence South married a Hanafy and died in the same area as Joyce.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21All he had to do was check Joyce's father's marriage record to see if he'd married a Florence.
0:35:21 > 0:35:27Although I thought I'd cracked it, I thought I'd identified the mother and wasn't I clever,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30suddenly we came across a little hiccup.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34When we had now found the marriage of the Hanafy to South,
0:35:34 > 0:35:40it cross-checked to an Agnes, an Agnes M, and Agnes is not Florence.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Neil had come across another obstacle.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47Who did marry Dr Hanafy, Florence South or Agnes South?
0:35:47 > 0:35:55What we have here is a census, this is for Bromley in Kent, and on here we have a South family.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58The father is Henry, and down here we have a Florence M South,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01and above that, her older sister is an Agnes M South.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05And suddenly stuff started making a bit more sense,
0:36:05 > 0:36:09and we thought we had two sisters marrying the same gentleman.
0:36:09 > 0:36:16Joyce's father Dr John Hanafy had married Agnes South, and together they had Joyce.
0:36:17 > 0:36:22When Agnes died 20 years later, he then re-married her younger sister Florence within a year,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25when Joyce was 14.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30Now they had established Joyce's parents, the team could build the family tree.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33They found that she had a brother called John,
0:36:33 > 0:36:38who was in the RAF during the Second World War, but like many pilots, sadly, he didn't survive.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42John Theodor, however, passed away in 1943.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46He was in the Air Force as a flying officer and was shot down.
0:36:46 > 0:36:52So suddenly, within a ten-year period, Joyce's life has gone...through turmoil.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Her mother's passed away, her father's remarried.
0:36:54 > 0:37:00Her brother, who she must have been close to after her mother passed away, has also been killed.
0:37:00 > 0:37:06From this ideal lifestyle she probably had in a pretty well-to do family, with a good occupation,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09quite a bit of money coming in through her father,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12suddenly her whole world has been turned upside down.
0:37:12 > 0:37:18Since Joyce's brother had died without children, the next stage was to look for uncles and aunts.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23While Neil broadened the search, he came across some startling records.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28We've identified a record for a Joyce Amelia Hanafy.
0:37:28 > 0:37:34Quite clearly it says here born on 1/6/1922, so we know that's our lady.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38So we've got a record here, and that is a personnel file
0:37:38 > 0:37:40from the Second World War.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45And it's from the SOE, so that's the Special Operations Executive.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50Now, these are the wartime equivalent of the current MI6.
0:37:50 > 0:37:57The Special Operations Executive trained people for World War Two resistance work.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Joyce had been approached to be a spy.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Roderick Bailey is a historian and an SOE expert.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10The Special Operations Executive, SOE, was set up in 1940
0:38:10 > 0:38:14to carry out sabotage and encourage resistance behind enemy lines.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17It was pretty small to begin with, but by the end of the war,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21it had grown into quite a formidable organisation.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Some of the deeds and actions it carried out
0:38:23 > 0:38:27were amongst the most daring and dramatic carried out by Allied Forces.
0:38:27 > 0:38:35In 1944, when Joyce was approached, Britain had been in the grip of war for nearly five years.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38The Government called on everyone who could contribute to the war effort to do so,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42whether by fighting on the frontline or helping on the home front.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46But some of the most dangerous work was behind enemy lines.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52At the point that Joyce was recruited as a trainee agent, we know that she was 21 years old.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56She had finished at Durham University and was undergoing teacher training.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59And also it is apparent that her command of French
0:38:59 > 0:39:03and her intelligence had impressed someone enough to give her a tap on the shoulder,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07and significantly she seems to have been under consideration by SOE
0:39:07 > 0:39:09to be an agent to be dropped into occupied France.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16The SOE sent over 400 agents to occupied France
0:39:16 > 0:39:20to undertake high-risk missions where they were incredibly vulnerable.
0:39:20 > 0:39:26Few women were taken on, and as with all agents, they were carefully vetted.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Joyce's file has been opened for the first time in over 60 years.
0:39:32 > 0:39:38The file shows that Joyce Hanafy's involvement with SOE was brief.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42It seems that she did not seem suitable to the assessors
0:39:42 > 0:39:44as an agent in occupied France.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47The file makes a number of harsh comments about her character.
0:39:47 > 0:39:52It says, "She is spoilt, affected, greedy for admiration and vain and superficial."
0:39:52 > 0:39:56I think it's important to acknowledge the fact that she got this far,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00that she was considered as an agent and that she underwent tests.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Also, of course, that she was, as the assessors remark here,
0:40:03 > 0:40:08that she was "intelligent, had a retentive memory and has adequate courage."
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Even to be considered was quite something.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Although the researchers were finding out more and more about
0:40:15 > 0:40:21Joyce's extraordinary life, they had yet to find heirs to her £1m estate.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26So far, they had found her parents and also her brother, who died without children.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29The next stage was to research her Egyptian grandfather
0:40:29 > 0:40:34and see if he had other children who would be Joyce's uncles and aunts.
0:40:34 > 0:40:40We get his occupation from the marriage certificates, of which John has two, the one to the mother,
0:40:40 > 0:40:47Agnes, and then the one to the aunt of the deceased, or the stepmother, Florence, several years later.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51On these marriages, the occupation is significant.
0:40:51 > 0:40:57On the second one he's a landowner, and the other one says he's a judge,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and a judge is an occupation where there are records about,
0:41:00 > 0:41:06and suddenly I was convinced I would be able to find the family if only I could go to Egypt.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Neil's research in Egypt paid off.
0:41:09 > 0:41:15Joyce's grandfather had three children - John, Ismail and Amina.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Four of Amina's grandchildren who are still alive are heirs.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22They would be Joyce's first cousins once removed.
0:41:22 > 0:41:29When Neil met them, they were all fascinated to find out more about this long-lost branch of the family.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33All they knew of the father was that he'd gone to England to study medicine
0:41:33 > 0:41:37and that was the last they'd heard of him, he'd never come home.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40And indeed, just having this one person who had gone off,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44who they thought was the black sheep almost of their family
0:41:44 > 0:41:48was something they didn't want to talk about until they worked out
0:41:48 > 0:41:55that their black sheep had lived an incredible life, receiving an OBE from the Queen
0:41:55 > 0:42:01and his work with the British Army in the Medical Corps
0:42:01 > 0:42:04was something they are now immensely proud of.
0:42:04 > 0:42:10Neil found four Egyptian heirs who will all have a share in Joyce's £1 million estate.
0:42:12 > 0:42:19I solved a case which, from the onset, no-one thought would be solvable.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22They didn't think we would ever be finding beneficiaries.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27Not only that, but we're talking of an estate worth a huge amount of money.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30So, incredibly good feeling about solving the case.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Neil's work has ensured that he not only has earned a valuable commission for the company,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39but on a more personal level that Joyce's heirs in Egypt have regained a part
0:42:39 > 0:42:44of their family history that they thought they'd lost forever and one in which they can take pride.
0:42:48 > 0:42:54If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to bbc.co.uk.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk