0:00:02 > 0:00:04Every year, thousands of people die without leaving a will.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07If no relatives come forward,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09their estate will go to the government.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Keeping this money in the family is a job for the heir hunters.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34On today's programme, lightning really does strike twice
0:00:34 > 0:00:37as the heir hunters uncover an amazing coincidence.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41She's a double beneficiary inside twelve months.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43It's a little strange!
0:00:45 > 0:00:50And the search for heirs to a Polish soldier's estate crosses every border...
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Having luck on your side is always important in cracking a case.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56That's why I looked into Spain.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00..as they uncover the incredible story of his unbelievable suffering
0:01:00 > 0:01:02and personal bravery.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06We in Britain have to be grateful we didn't have to live through it.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11Plus how you may be entitled to inherit some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:19 > 0:01:22In the UK, two-thirds of people don't have a will.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28When they die, the law states that unless the authorities can find an obvious heir,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30their money goes to the government.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36Last year, the Treasury pocketed a staggering £18 million in unclaimed estates.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39That's where the heir hunters step in.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46There are over 30 companies who make it their business to trace the heirs to this money
0:01:46 > 0:01:48and help them claim it back.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Fraser and Fraser is one of the oldest firms of heir hunters in the world.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55It's owned by Andrew, Charles and Neil Fraser.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00They make their commission by solving cases and signing up heirs.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Over the last ten years, they've enabled over 50,000 heirs
0:02:04 > 0:02:06to claim over £100 million.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17Thursday is the most important day of the week at Fraser & Fraser's central London office
0:02:17 > 0:02:22because that's when the Treasury releases its weekly list of unclaimed estates.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Have you got addresses there of neighbours, Jo?
0:02:26 > 0:02:31The team's first job is to work out which ones are going to be worth the most.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33That's gonna be... That first one in '25.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37This morning, nothing's looking very promising.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41We're looking at the case of Douglas Walter Greatrex at the moment.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I've got a query about whether it's got any value on it.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49The heir hunters have discovered that the deceased owned a property.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53This usually means the estate would be quite substantial.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57But there is something unusual about this case.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59He doesn't own the lease of the property.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03But the freehold of the property is in the deceased's name.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Freeholds aren't worth a huge amount of money.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10It is a property case, but it may be worth a couple of thousand pounds,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13not a couple of hundred thousand pounds, as we'd hoped.
0:03:17 > 0:03:23The company has a lot of manpower and resources and can afford to take a chance on smaller-looking cases.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31So Neil decides to go with it and puts case manager David Pacifico in charge of the investigation.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37We're gonna be working this Greatrex case.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It looks like this case will be centred in Birmingham,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46so David calls Midland-based senior researcher Paul Matthews to get him up to speed.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50'We're not 100% certain...'
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Sorry, hang on a second.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55- We need the enquiry. - Yeah, can you do the enquiry?
0:03:55 > 0:03:59- Ask him for the death.- And we need the death of the deceased.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01OK. Cheers. Bye.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Thanks, Paul. Bye.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Like all the company's travelling researchers,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Paul is poised to follow any lead he's given
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and make sure that he beats the competition and reaches the heirs first.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26Paul's off to Birmingham register office. He's faxed through a request for Douglas's death certificate
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and his parents' marriage certificate.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30But now he needs to pick them up.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33They contain the information the team need
0:04:33 > 0:04:36to start building up his family tree and tracing heirs.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Douglas Greatrex lived his whole life in Birmingham.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50He was born and grew up in the traditional working class area of Newton Street,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52in the heart of the city.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Several photos survive from his childhood,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00particularly his time in the boy scouts.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04According to his close friend Angela Common,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Douglas grew up to be a proper gent of the old school.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13He was smiley, he was friendly and he was the perfect gentleman.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16You know, old-fashioned.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20He'd open the door and pay for your tea.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Angela met Douglas when she went to work for him in his tool manufacturing business.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29She then left to have a family,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34but years later, they bumped into each other and struck up a close friendship.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39By now, Angela was on her own with the children and Douglas became an important part of their lives.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43We sort of adopted him
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and he would sort of tweak in to what the kids would like
0:05:47 > 0:05:49and spoil them a bit.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55And I'd say, "Doug, they think they can have what they want, and they can't!"
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Just little things like an ice cream or a book.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02I don't know how many dictionaries he bought for the kids. He loved his books.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Although he ran a successful business,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Douglas always felt unsatisfied in his job.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17I think he resented it cos he wasn't content doing it.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19It was a means of making money.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24He'd talk to the kids and encourage them to do well at school.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28"You don't want to end up in a factory like me."
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Although he regretted not receiving a better education,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Douglas was able to escape from the daily grind into a world of books.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41He'd go home, behind his front door, he'd be in his office.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47Wall-to-wall books and he'd be tapping away there.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51He'd come up with stories. He was very into his thrillers.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54With the writing,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56that was his world.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00"Go and get yourself a lady friend, or something!"
0:07:00 > 0:07:03He'd go, "Oh, no, I don't need that.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07"My books and my computer, that'll do for me."
0:07:07 > 0:07:08Yeah.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Douglas wrote one story especially for Angela's children,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15naming one of the characters Amelia, after her daughter.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17He got two copies bound
0:07:17 > 0:07:21and gave one to the adopted family who inspired him.
0:07:21 > 0:07:28I think the kids thought a lot of Doug because Doug went out of his way for them.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30It's like he became that family member.
0:07:30 > 0:07:37I think he was relishing the thought that he was our family.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41You know, a father, grandfather figure.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51In heir hunting, so much rests on the surnames involved.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55A rare surname like Greatrex should be easy to research
0:07:55 > 0:07:58because it stands out in the records.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01But there are other factors to consider.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Although there may only be 1,000 people with that surname in the country,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10they all live within a 20- or 30-mile radius of each other.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14That way, it makes it harder to identify the individuals
0:08:14 > 0:08:19because all the John Greatrexes live in Birmingham, for instance.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Sure enough, the team immediately run into a problem.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28They know that Douglas's mother's name was Harvey.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Print that one out.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35And researcher Jo has found two marriages between a Greatrex and a Harvey in Birmingham.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40One in 1916, and one ten years later in 1926.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Case manager David Pacifico reckons he knows which one is right.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51It's likely to be the 1926 rather than 1916
0:08:51 > 0:08:54because the deceased was born in '34.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00So I should hopefully hear something soon from Paul Matthews.
0:09:02 > 0:09:08But Paul can't help them cos he's stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the register office.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15So until he can get his hands on the actual marriage certificate,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17the team need to research both possibilities.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21David,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23the first marriage, some of it's online.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Debbie has come across the 1916 marriage on a genealogy website,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31most likely posted by some family member.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35The first marriage, Doris to George A. Greatrex.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39It's his family history, and some pictures as well.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42I'll know soon which is the right marriage.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46But Paul's still a long way from his destination.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Luckily, he's very well known to the guys in the register office
0:09:51 > 0:09:55so he pulls over to see if he can get the answers he needs over the phone.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01- 'Hello?'- Hi, John, I've cut about 20 people up and got off the Bristol Road.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03- 'Are we smiling?'- Yes, we are.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06'Presumably, you only want the marriage
0:10:06 > 0:10:09- 'if the groom is called George Andrew, yes?'- Yes.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13'Right. Discard one of them.'
0:10:13 > 0:10:17In one call, Paul gets the key facts that he needs to get this case moving.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He phones through the all-important information to the office.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Right, the marriage.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- Yep.- 3 December, 1916.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35It looks like David's hunch that Douglas's parents were married in 1926 was wrong.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41- They're all brothers and sisters. Work up those marriages. - We've got a nephew.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47But the good news is that the correct marriage is the one with the online family tree.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52So the team already have all the information they need to put it together.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Douglas's parents were George Andrew Greatrex and Doris Harvey.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02They had seven children, two of whom had died young.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08And Douglas was the youngest in the family by a gap of nine years.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Doris born in 1925, then a nine-year gap
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and Douglas just comes out at the end of that.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18So...
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Nine years in-between it,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27which may explain why the family have split up and separated.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34- Somebody's given me John L's neighbours.- I gave you John L's neighbours.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41The team have made great progress on this case and it's still only 8.30 in the morning.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46It's coming up very quickly. It's difficult to keep up.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52- I'd like to get someone to Birmingham.- Ewart's doing an enquiry in Windsor.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55- Once he's done his enquiry in Windsor, send him up.- OK.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00David Pacifico calls senior researcher Ewart Lindsay.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- 'Hello, Ewart.'- Hi, Dave.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04He's currently in Maidenhead in Berkshire.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08'I've arranged an appointment at one o'clock in Tamworth.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10'I thought I'd leave that one with you.'
0:12:10 > 0:12:12- Cheers, Dave.- 'Bye.'
0:12:13 > 0:12:15With two senior researchers in the area,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19ready to sign up heirs as soon as the office can identify them,
0:12:19 > 0:12:24the team are well placed to tie up this investigation in record time.
0:12:28 > 0:12:35But still to come: an amazing coincidence takes this heir hunt into unchartered territory.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38This bit of tree automatically joins on to here.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41And one heir gets a very unexpected phone call.
0:12:42 > 0:12:48You won't believe this, but we believe you're a beneficiary on another estate we're looking in to.
0:13:01 > 0:13:07Although some heir hunts unravel quickly, and are concentrated in one specific area,
0:13:07 > 0:13:09others remain unsolved for years
0:13:09 > 0:13:13and take in many different countries and a broad sweep of history.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Tadeusz Gaweda was just such a case.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22He died in 1991
0:13:22 > 0:13:25in this house in Forest Hill in south London,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28leaving an estate worth £37,000.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30But no will.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34His case had remained unsolved for many years,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38when Hector Birchwood from heir hunting firm Celtic Research took it on.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44Hector remembers coming across his unusual name on the Treasury's weekly list of unclaimed estates.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47When I immediately saw the name Gaweda,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51my assumption at that point was that it was Polish.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Of course, that could mean Ukrainian Polish,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56that could mean Belarusian Polish,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59there are a number of Polish communities in central Europe,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04and in places like Italy or France.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07So really at that point it really didn't tell me a lot.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Hector started investigations by looking for Tadeusz's death certificate.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Well, the death certificate is usually of some help.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24But the information you get is only as good as the informant.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29So they may not know the deceased or may not know as much as they think they know.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34In Tadeusz's case, although the date of death in 1991 was correct,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37there was obviously a mistake with the birth,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40which was also shown as being in 1991.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46According to the certificate, he was born in Poland.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49But was that a mistake as well?
0:14:50 > 0:14:55As a matter of protocol, we always look for the birth in this country. We couldn't find one.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Without a birth certificate or any reliable information,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Hector had nothing to go on.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06He knew that trying to find this information from public records in Poland
0:15:06 > 0:15:07might prove challenging.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10For the moment, he was stumped.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Hector then had an inspired thought.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25He decided to cross-reference Tadeusz's death
0:15:25 > 0:15:28by going back to the death index record
0:15:28 > 0:15:31held in the general register office.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36Sure enough, the record revealed that Tadeusz had been born in 1929.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41From there, Hector found he had arrived in England in 1946
0:15:41 > 0:15:43with the Polish Resettlement Corps.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47When the Second World War ended,
0:15:47 > 0:15:52many Polish soldiers, who had fought alongside the British against the Nazis
0:15:52 > 0:15:57chose not to return to what was now Communist Poland.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Instead, they came to live in the UK.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04When the soldiers first arrived, they were housed in temporary camps
0:16:04 > 0:16:07until they were able to start a new life in this country.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12Many of the people who came here during World War II or just after,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15from the Ukraine, from Poland, from any other places,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18often had to reinvent themselves and establish themselves here.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20They often could not go back.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24So they got married and they had children here,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26possibly even if they had a wife back home.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28That does happen.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33So we were mindful of the possibility that he may have been previously married.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36But we did look for a marriage for him here.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39That's when we came across a marriage.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41That was really the first break in the case.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Hector discovered that Tadeusz married Carmen Garrido
0:16:47 > 0:16:49in Willesden, London, in 1957.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54Any time we do find a marriage, it does bring up some hope, a few glimmers of hope.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57There's a possibility there might be children.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03There's a possibility that we may be able to find the spouse's family
0:17:03 > 0:17:06who may be able to tell us something about the deceased's family.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Maybe give us names and addresses of his family.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13There are always glimmers of hope whenever we find a marriage
0:17:13 > 0:17:16but we didn't know exactly where that would lead.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22With two unusual surnames like Gaweda and Garrido,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26it wasn't long before Hector came across birth records for some children,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29born in Alcester in Warwickshire.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Tadeusz and Carmen had three children.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36A son, Roberto, and two daughters,
0:17:36 > 0:17:41all of whom would be heirs to their father's £37,000 estate.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Once we found the births, it really threw open the case.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49We could see that the deceased had biological children,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53they may have been adopted, they may have changed their names,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56but at least it offered an avenue
0:17:56 > 0:17:59by which we could crack this case
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and find some rightful heirs for his estate.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07But then the trail ran cold.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10There was no further trace of Tadeusz's children in this country.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14If they had left England when they were very young,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16they could have been anywhere by now.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19But he took a guess that someone with a surname like Garrido
0:18:19 > 0:18:22their mother may have taken them to Spain.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Having a bit of luck on your side is always important in cracking a case.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31That's really why I looked into Spain.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34It just seemed like it fitted better than other places.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37I wasn't sure, but it looked better than the other options.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Another piece of luck for Hector was that he speaks fluent Spanish
0:18:43 > 0:18:47so he was ideally placed to conduct an investigation there.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52One of the things we did find just by trawling through the internet
0:18:52 > 0:18:57was that the family of Gaweda/Garrido is only centred in one place in Spain.
0:18:57 > 0:18:58In Valencia.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04The case was cracked, as far as I was concerned. I just needed to find people and talk to them.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Hector found a recent record for Tadeusz's son, Roberto,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11online, along with some contact details.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15So he decided to make a first attempt to contact him.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20SPEAKS SPANISH
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Still to come:
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Initially our contact with Roberto wasn't exactly very successful.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Hector's heir hunt runs into a spot of bother.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40- TRANSLATION: - I thought it was a con.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And in the search for Douglas Greatrex's heirs,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47one beneficiary gets a lot more than she bargained for.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52- It might pay for a holiday.- Might get a bit further than Blackpool!
0:19:57 > 0:19:59For every case that is solved,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03there are still thousands that remain a mystery. Currently,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05over 3,000 names drawn from across the country
0:20:05 > 0:20:08are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15With estates valued at anything from 5,000 to millions of pounds,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Today, we've got two cases heir hunters have so far failed to solve.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27Could you be the missing link?
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Could you be in line for a payout?
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Mustafa Kamal died in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38on 8 November 2005.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Was he a friend or neighbour of yours?
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Could you even be related to him
0:20:43 > 0:20:44and entitled to his estate?
0:20:46 > 0:20:51Bertha Helen Hutson passed away on 16 October 1998
0:20:51 > 0:20:53in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56If no relatives come forward,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58her money will go to the government.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00But should it be headed your way?
0:21:03 > 0:21:07If the names Mustafa Kamal or Bertha Helen Hutson mean anything to you,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Heir hunter Hector Birchwood
0:21:23 > 0:21:27was searching for heirs to Tadeusz Gaweda's £37,000 estate.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35He gambled that Tadeusz's children had returned to Spain with their mother, Carmen,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37and his gamble paid off.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41He found a phone number for Tadeusz's son, Roberto,
0:21:41 > 0:21:42who was out when he called.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47So he left a message telling him that he could be a beneficiary of an estate.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52SPEAKS SPANISH
0:21:55 > 0:21:58IN SPANISH
0:21:58 > 0:22:00My first impression was that it was a con.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02One of those internet scams
0:22:02 > 0:22:06where they contact you and tell you you've inherited money.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16As Hector had guessed, Roberto's parents' marriage had broken down.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20His mother had taken the children back to live with her parents in Spain.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31He called the house one time when we were in Madrid.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35But my mother was always so scared that he would come and take us away.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Legally, she had been in the wrong.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47At that time, you needed a father's permission if children left the country without him.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Tadeusz never made another attempt to contact his children.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Roberto's mother never spoke of him.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02So Roberto's only knowledge of his father
0:23:02 > 0:23:06were a few photos and the stories told to him by his grandfather.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16My grandfather came to England once with my grandmother when we were very little.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19He met my father, and it seems they had a lot in common.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24He always said he was a very intelligent man
0:23:24 > 0:23:26and a very hard worker.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30I can't help thinking I would have loved to have had the chance to talk to him.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39But after talking to Hector, Roberto decided to come over to England
0:23:39 > 0:23:43to find out what he could about the father he never knew.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50For me, this is the final conclusion of my father's life.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54The great thing is that now I have the chance to finish the story.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Being able to fill in the gaps of his life that I never knew
0:24:02 > 0:24:05will help me to understand him better.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18With the case solved, Hector arranged to meet Roberto,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22to give him the information and paperwork provided by the Treasury.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26This included the immigration application
0:24:26 > 0:24:30that was written by the Home Office when Tadeusz arrived in Britain in 1946.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33GREET IN SPANISH
0:24:35 > 0:24:38This brief paragraph gave a fascinating insight
0:24:38 > 0:24:43into his early life during one of the darkest periods of European history.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46IN SPANISH
0:24:48 > 0:24:52The document revealed that his father was actually born in France in 1929.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58The family only moved to eastern Poland in 1933.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08But any hopes of a peaceful family life were destroyed
0:25:08 > 0:25:12when, in 1939, Hitler's army invaded Poland
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and Tadeusz was thrown into the chaos of the Second World War.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27Poland was invaded by the Nazis on Friday 1st September 1939.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29A week or so before,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33the Nazis and Russians had signed a non-aggression pact
0:25:33 > 0:25:36which gave Hitler the green light to invade Poland.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Also, secret clauses were in place
0:25:39 > 0:25:44that gave Russia the green light to invade eastern Poland
0:25:44 > 0:25:47which it did on 17 September 1939.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Ten-year-old Tadeusz was captured by the Russians
0:25:52 > 0:25:56and deported along with thousands of other Poles to a Russian labour camp.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Conditions in all Russian labour camps were extremely harsh,
0:26:02 > 0:26:07not only for those Poles perceived as the class enemies of Russia,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11but also the people that had been swept up under Stalin's purges
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and put into the Gulags.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18Very poor food, long hours of hard, and sometimes senseless labour as well.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28Then, in 1942, Hitler invaded Russia.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36Tadeusz was dragged back to Germany to work as slave labour for the Nazi war machine.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42The German war economy was so dependent on foreign labour.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45To give you an example, in 1944,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49there were over seven million foreigners working in Germany.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52The vast majority were slave labourers
0:26:52 > 0:26:54that the Nazis had taken in manhunts
0:26:54 > 0:26:57throughout eastern occupied Europe.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Amazingly, Tadeusz, still only in his early teens,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07and risking execution if he'd been caught,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10managed to escape from Germany.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Somehow, he crossed the border to Italy and hooked up with fellow Poles.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19His army records show he joined the Polish Resettlement Corps
0:27:19 > 0:27:22in 1946 to help with the clean-up.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Tadeusz's incredible journey came to an end not long after
0:27:31 > 0:27:36when he arrived in England to start a new life after the chaos of the war years.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41I think that Tadeusz's story is not an untypical one
0:27:41 > 0:27:43for people that lived in central Europe.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48We in Britain have to be very grateful we didn't have to live through it.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52I'm afraid it is so typical of so many hundreds of thousands of people
0:27:52 > 0:27:54especially younger people,
0:27:54 > 0:27:59who were really buffeted between the two sides
0:27:59 > 0:28:01of National Socialism - Nazism -
0:28:01 > 0:28:03and Soviet Communism.
0:28:05 > 0:28:11Having learned about his father's astonishing history from Hector,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Roberto then set off on the final stage of his journey
0:28:14 > 0:28:17to Kington Camp in Herefordshire.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19According to the records,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23this is where Tadeusz was housed along with many other Polish soldiers
0:28:23 > 0:28:26when they first arrived in this country.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31Local historian Kenneth Reeves showed him round the camp.
0:28:32 > 0:28:38These are the sort of huts that your father would have been billeted in.
0:28:38 > 0:28:44They were originally built for the American army as a hospital.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49They were designed to last for 25 years. That was in 1943.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52They've now been here something like 66 years
0:28:52 > 0:28:55and they're rather beginning to show their age
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and most of them are falling down.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Compared to what Tadeusz would have experienced in Germany and Russia,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06this camp would have been like a five-star hotel.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10But for Roberto, it was a very moving experience.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20- TRANSLATION:- It makes me feel sad, very sad,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24how my father could have survived before, during and after the war.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33I had no idea before all this how he could have endured such a terrible life.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43So, this is it.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46The end of a story that I didn't get to hear about first hand.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50But at least now I can say that I know about my father's life
0:29:50 > 0:29:54and it's helped me to understand him.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Tadeusz's life, and that of millions of Europeans
0:29:58 > 0:30:02caught between the Nazi and communist regimes during the war
0:30:02 > 0:30:05was one of unimaginable suffering and hardship.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Sadly, Tadeusz never got to see his children grow up.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15But he did manage to leave them a legacy of £37,000
0:30:15 > 0:30:18which was ultimately shared between the three of them.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20For Hector,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24it was a satisfying end to a case that could have remained unsolved
0:30:24 > 0:30:27if he hadn't retrieved it from that bottom drawer.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32I'm really pleased that the case eventually came to a successful fruition.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38First of all because I could justify the amount of time I spent on this case.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40Second of all,
0:30:40 > 0:30:45because my hunch was right in going to Spain.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48More than that, really, is that I was very happy
0:30:48 > 0:30:52to know that some of these cases that are unsolved
0:30:52 > 0:30:54can still be solved, can still be cracked,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56if you have enough determination
0:30:56 > 0:31:00or at least if you have the right kind of luck, like I did!
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Fraser and Fraser have been looking into the case of Douglas Greatrex
0:31:12 > 0:31:15who died aged 75 in Birmingham.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Douglas was the youngest of his siblings by several years
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and had fallen out of touch with his extended family.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24When he died, he owned a property
0:31:24 > 0:31:29but he didn't own the leasehold, which will affect the value of his estate.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35It is a property case, but it may be worth a couple of thousand,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38not a couple of hundred thousand pounds as we'd hoped for.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42The team got off to a great start with their investigation.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47It wasn't long before they'd managed to trace 16 of Douglas's heirs.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50- Someone gave me John L's neighbours. - I gave you those.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57There's quite a few siblings of the deceased.
0:31:57 > 0:31:58This is near kin.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05For the heir hunters, if they can't find any children of the deceased,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08the next best result is to find near kin,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11meaning siblings or nieces and nephews.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17- Hi, Paul.- Hi, Dave.- We've got it up to date with near kin on it.- Right.
0:32:17 > 0:32:23We've got addresses of a niece and a couple of nephews in Birmingham.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26OK. Catch you later. Cheers. Bye.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33Paul's just round the corner from the first address he's been given.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39There's no-one in, so he tries the neighbours.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Sorry, I'm trying to get hold of your neighbour, Trevor. Does he work in the day?
0:32:45 > 0:32:49Paul calls David Pacifico in the office to give him the bad news.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53It's always the way. We get the early breakthroughs
0:32:53 > 0:32:55but people are at work, aren't they?
0:32:55 > 0:32:59We've got more addresses for Trevor's siblings.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03- Yeah?- We've got a Roy living at Yardley.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Okey-cokey, Dave.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11David's finally managed to make an appointment with one of Douglas's heirs.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16His nephew, Roy Stevens, is the eldest son of Douglas's sister Doris
0:33:16 > 0:33:19and her husband Sydney.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Mr Stevens? Paul Matthews, Fraser and Fraser, a probate research company.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29We deal with the estates of people who pass away without making wills.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32We think you're entitled to an estate we're dealing with.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35- Got a few minutes? - OK.- Thank you very much.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Paul needs to check that Roy is actually Douglas's nephew.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43He gets straight down to business.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Right, your mum, Doris. Did she have brothers and sisters?
0:33:48 > 0:33:52- Yeah. Dougie.- OK. - It's not him gone, is it?
0:33:52 > 0:33:57- Uh, yeah.- Dougie? I had a horrible feeling it was Dougie.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59He passed away. He hasn't...
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Roy remembers Douglas well,
0:34:02 > 0:34:05so his death comes as a shock.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08- Carry on.- Take your time. - I'm all right.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Dougie, yeah.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12What do you know about Dougie?
0:34:12 > 0:34:16We actually seen a lot of Dougie up until Mum went.
0:34:16 > 0:34:17And then, all of a sudden,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21we sort of lost sight of him and things.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25- Just disappeared? How long ago? Years?- A long time ago.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31I guess that at the end of the day, if Douglas saved a few bob, fair play to him.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Cos we haven't helped!
0:34:34 > 0:34:37He's obviously saved it for you.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39If you get a few bob, what will you do with it?
0:34:39 > 0:34:44- I don't know. Have a drink. - Have a drink. OK, that's nice.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Thanks for your time. I'll speak to you later on. Cheers. Bye!
0:34:49 > 0:34:54By the end of their meeting, Roy's happy for Frasers to assist him in his claim.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57And Paul's delighted to have signed up his first heir.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06But just then, something rather extraordinary happens.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09Back in the office, Neil has just made a connection
0:35:09 > 0:35:12that takes everyone by surprise.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14What we've just found out
0:35:14 > 0:35:18is that this is a tree which I've just printed off
0:35:18 > 0:35:23from a case run by Marcus at the beginning of this year.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28Eight months ago, the heir hunters dealt with the case of a Peter William Greatrex,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30also from Birmingham,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33who, it turns out, was Douglas Greatrex's nephew.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Peter William, his father was William Arthur Greatrex.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44William Arthur Greatrex is on this tree over here...
0:35:45 > 0:35:49..sat here as a brother of the deceased.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53So this bit of tree automatically joins onto here.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58If Peter Greatrex had lived,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01he would have inherited some of his Uncle Douglas's estate.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05But as it is, his share will pass to his daughter Samantha,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10who, eight months ago, discovered that she was to inherit from her father's £6,000 estate.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17NEIL: She is now a beneficiary on this estate as well.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20So she's a double beneficiary inside 12 months.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Um, it's a little strange.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31Ten months ago, when Samantha was contacted during the last series of Heir Hunters,
0:36:31 > 0:36:33she learned that her father had died.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38The news was a great shock to her, as her parents had split up when she was a baby
0:36:38 > 0:36:40and that was the last she'd seen of him.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46It was strange that it was a loss. I felt a loss.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Although you've lost somebody who's a part of you
0:36:50 > 0:36:52you know nothing about them
0:36:52 > 0:36:56and that's quite difficult.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03I always thought that I'd get the chance to at least say goodbye.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06That sounds a bit strange.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09Say goodbye to somebody that you don't know.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18Less than a year on, and the heir hunters have another reason to get in touch with Samantha.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23I'm gonna phone her up now.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30It's fallen to case manager David Pacifico
0:37:30 > 0:37:33to break the news to her that she's lost another relative.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37'Hello. Miss Greatrex?'
0:37:37 > 0:37:38It's Fraser and Fraser.
0:37:39 > 0:37:46Hello, there. You won't believe this, but we believe you would be a beneficiary on another estate.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Well, this one is going back through your grandfather's side of the family.
0:37:52 > 0:37:53Yes, unbelievable.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01Samantha is also based in Birmingham, so David sends Paul straight round to see her.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11- Hi, Samantha. Paul Matthews, Fraser and Fraser.- Nice to meet you.
0:38:11 > 0:38:12- Come in.- Cheers.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Paul goes back over Samantha's family tree
0:38:15 > 0:38:19to show her how she's related to her deceased great-uncle Douglas.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24- Do you know anything about your grandparents at all?- No,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26only what I got told by Frasers, their names.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30For Samantha, it's the second time in less than a year
0:38:30 > 0:38:36that she's been confronted with information about relations that she never knew she had.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39It's sad the circumstances it comes about.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42But this one's a nice one compared to the last one.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44It's very distant. You never knew the person.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48His estate is either gonna go to people like yourself,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51or to the government. It's better going to you.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55- You can add it to the other one.- At least I can get somewhere with it.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59- It might pay for a holiday.- I might get a bit further than Blackpool!
0:38:59 > 0:39:05Samantha's very happy to let Frasers assist her on making her second inheritance claim.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07So she signs up.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10You've got one of these already. You can collect them!
0:39:10 > 0:39:12You're totally unique!
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Twice in ten months. Fantastic.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Paul's got a busy afternoon ahead of him.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21He heads off to his next appointment.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23All the best. Hope you get a nice sum of money.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26- Thank you very much. - Cheers. Bye!- Bye.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35In all, the team have uncovered 16 heirs to Douglas Greatrex's estate,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38who all need to be visited and signed up.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Luckily, senior researcher Ewart Lindsay has arrived to help
0:39:43 > 0:39:47and has gone straight to the house of one of Douglas's nieces.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Hello, Mrs Margetts. Ewart Lindsay from Fraser and Fraser.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52- OK. Do you want to come in? - Thank you.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Yvonne is the daughter of another of Douglas's brothers,
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Harry Greatrex.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02She, along with her four surviving brothers and sisters,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05all stand to inherit from their uncle's estate.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11- Do you have an idea who the deceased is?- Yes, Dougie.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13That's correct.
0:40:13 > 0:40:20Unlike Samantha, Yvonne did know her Uncle Dougie, although she hadn't seen him in a long while.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23- Do you know if he had his own house? - I don't know.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27The last time I seen him, he was living with my nan, his mother.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32In the end, Frasers signed up all 16 of Douglas's heirs.
0:40:32 > 0:40:37His estate turned out to be worth £13,000,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40which was split between them all.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45None of them got a life-changing sum of money, but all got a reminder of the importance of family
0:40:45 > 0:40:48and a dear and long-lost uncle.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53I saw him probably when I was 15, so we're going back 30 years!
0:40:53 > 0:40:57I very rarely saw him, actually. He used to be quite a recluse.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00He kept himself to himself.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The first thought that crossed my mind was,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07"Who buried him?" Was it family? Was it friends?
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Someone, you know, who knew him.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Not nobody who didn't know him.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Although Douglas wasn't a very outgoing person,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22he did have a few close friends who were there for him at the end
0:41:22 > 0:41:24and gave him a proper send-off.
0:41:27 > 0:41:33The funeral itself was taken by his local vicar, the Rev Greg Mensing.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Occasionally, there are funerals which I take like Doug's,
0:41:39 > 0:41:41where there are very few people,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43but they were all there
0:41:43 > 0:41:45because they loved him
0:41:45 > 0:41:48and because they wanted to pay their last respects
0:41:48 > 0:41:51to a man that they cared for.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53Of those who did attend the funeral,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57he will be missed most by his dear friend, Angela,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and her children, who were his surrogate family.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04For weeks after he'd gone,
0:42:04 > 0:42:09the phone would go, and I'd often wish, "Is that Doug?"
0:42:09 > 0:42:13It really took a while to accept
0:42:13 > 0:42:16that's not him on the end of the phone any more.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Yeah.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21You know, that phone call out of the blue,
0:42:21 > 0:42:26"Hi, how are you doing?" We don't get that every day, do we?
0:42:26 > 0:42:31I think that was nice. And he always made you smile.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35He wasn't happy unless he put a smile on your face.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46If you would like advice about building your family tree
0:42:46 > 0:42:49or making a will, go to bbc.co.uk
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd