Climpson/Morgan Heir Hunters


Climpson/Morgan

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Transcript


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Every year, thousands die without leaving a will.

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If no relatives come forward, their estates go to the government.

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Keeping this money in the family is a job for the heir hunters.

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On today's programme, the heir hunters face their toughest competition yet...

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KNOCK ON DOOR

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-Who's that?

-Thank you very much.

-..as they race to be the first

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to sign up heirs to a possible £200,000 fortune.

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Well, I tell you, a very close call!

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And the difficult search for the family of a man who died all alone in the world.

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None of us had any details.

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There was no contact numbers that we knew of.

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So it was just unfortunate. We just had to contact the police.

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Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.

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Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?

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In the UK, two thirds of people don't have a will.

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When they die, the law states that unless the authorities

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can find an obvious heir, their money goes to the Government.

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Last year, the Treasury pocketed a staggering £18 million in unclaimed estates.

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That's where the heir hunters step in.

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I'm trying to get to speak to Lillian from number 146.

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There are over 30 companies whose business it is

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to track down the rightful kin, competing against each other to solve cases,

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sign up heirs and earn their commission.

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Fraser & Fraser is one of the oldest firms of heir hunters in Britain.

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It's owned by Andrew, Charles and Neil Fraser.

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They run a team of case managers and researchers in the office as well as a squadron of travelling

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heir hunters, who are based all over the country and are ready to go wherever the hunt takes them.

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It's 7am on Thursday morning at Fraser & Fraser's London office.

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The Treasury has just released its list of unclaimed estates,

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and Neil Fraser is trying to identify the high-value cases.

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This morning, it looks like he's in luck.

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I think the main case we're going to look at today is this Ethel Climpson.

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Dies in 2008, December of 2008.

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Now, it doesn't look like she owned a property when she passed away,

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but the house that she was living in was sold on the 4th of December.

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Now, to me, that sort of indicates the property's been sold as she's moved into a nursing home.

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Ethel died aged 88, six months after moving into this nursing home in East London.

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The property that Neil believes she sold just before her death was in Leytonstone.

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He estimates the house could have been sold for around £200,000.

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As Ethel was only in the home for a short while,

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he hopes that'll mean there's a lot of money left over for the estate.

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I think we're going to work that quite quickly and probably get quite a lot of staff on it.

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The surname Climpson sounds very good.

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I think it's going to be quiet an easy name to work.

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Therefore I suspect that we're going to fill out the family tree very, very quickly but probably

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get an awful lot of competition, so fingers crossed we can get to everyone before the opposition does.

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If the estate is going to be worth at least £200,000,

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then the company could be in line to make good commission.

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Climpson is an unusual name, which will stand out in the records and be easy to trace.

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So Neil's going to focus all his efforts on investigating this side of the family first.

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It's a risk, but he hopes it'll pay off.

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Good morning. I'm sorry to trouble you so early in the morning...

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Heir hunter David Slee immediately takes charge of the case.

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He's already found a number for a neighbour of Ethel's in Leytonstone.

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Not aware of the person at all? No.

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I'm very sorry to have troubled you. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.

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If they don't have any joy on the phone,

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the next step is to send someone round to see what they can find out on the ground.

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Dave Hadley.

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Between them, Neil and Dave assign a senior researcher out on the road to the case.

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But no joy there, either.

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Dave Hadley's on answerphone.

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Why do I think it's going to be one of those days?!

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David's frustrated because he knows that the first few minutes of any investigation

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can make or break a case, especially when there could be as much as £200,000 at stake.

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Whether or not Ethel left a lot of money after her death,

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for the last years of her life she lived modestly in this terraced house in East London.

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Elaine was her good friend and carer until just before the end, and she always knew Ethel as Peggy.

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Everybody who knew Peggy liked her.

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She was a very bright, happy, fun-loving person.

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I kept in touch with her 30-odd years, so I would say it's a lifelong friendship.

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Ethel and Elaine met in 1975 when they were both working

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in the accounts department of Heal's furniture store in London.

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Heal's was a very posh place to work in. When I say to people where I'm working, they say,

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"Ooh, you're working at Heal's?" something like that, because it was a very posh place to work in.

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Anybody's birthday, or anyone's getting married, or Christmas,

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there was a party, and we all enjoyed it together. And it was fun.

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And she stayed there until she retired, so she must have loved it.

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The friends that Ethel made at Heal's became like family and were a great support and comfort to her.

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Although she never married, Ethel did have one great love in her life.

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We asked her about her personal life.

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She said her fiance went in the Second World War and he didn't come back.

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John was Ethel's fiance.

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But, like many women at that time, her romantic hopes were dashed by the war.

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Losing him so young at what should have been the beginning

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of their lives together was something she found very hard to get over.

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We did ask her subtle questions.

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"Peggy, are you going to get married again?"

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She said, "No, girls, I'm not going to get married again. I don't want to."

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She said, "John's gone, and I don't want anyone else."

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She never met another man or had a family, but that didn't stop her enjoying life.

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Ethel loved to travel, and long after her retirement,

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she was still enjoying girls' trips abroad with her friends from Heal's.

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Peggy was never a sad person. No, never!

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Too much personality for that.

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It's still only 7:30am,

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but case manager David Slee and his team have already made good progress.

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They've been able to access Ethel's death certificate on-line.

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So from that, Debbie and Jo have already found her birth certificate

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and started building out her family tree.

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-So she's an only child?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, I thought so.

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With no siblings or children of her own, the team now know

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they will need to look further back, to her grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins to find any heirs.

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Ethel's grandparents were John Henry Climpson and Sarah Stamford.

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They had six children, Ethel's father George

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being the eldest, and five others, one of whom died in infancy.

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We're making sure that we've got top-line births done manually.

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Ethel's aunts and uncles will form the top line of her family tree,

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and it's likely to be their descendants, her cousins, who are heirs.

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So Dave wants to be sure that he's got the right details for them.

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There can be gaps on these websites, and we have our own manual records that we can go through.

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And although it takes a bit longer, it allows us to be a lot more certain about our research.

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It's not long before this meticulous approach to their research pays off.

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George Frederick. It's got to be him.

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David has found a birth record for a George Frederick, son of Ethel's aunt, Bertha Climpson.

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George died in 1996.

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But they also uncover a record for his sister June, and here they hit the jackpot.

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We've got a current address for a paternal first cousin

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living in Woodford Green, so not far from where the deceased lived.

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It's absolutely falling out so easy.

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Too easy.

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This is great news for the team.

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It's still only 8am, and they have already located Ethel's first cousin

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and their first living heir, June.

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But for all they know, the competition could be there already.

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So Dave gets straight onto Dave Hadley.

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Dave, it's Dave Slee.

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Can you go Woodford Green?

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-OK.

-We've an address for a paternal first cousin. Thanks now. Bye-bye.

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The team have found one heir in record time, but Dave can't afford to rest on his laurels.

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There are still four more of Ethel's paternal aunts and uncles to investigate.

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It's not long before the next breakthrough.

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We've just been able to identify the death of the deceased's

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paternal uncle, Frederick William Climpson.

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Frederick was Ethel's youngest uncle, who died in 1980 in Debden in Essex.

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The heir hunters need to discover if he had any children.

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-Very soon, researcher Debbie makes a very interesting discovery.

-Here.

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That's not for this marriage, Frederick's?

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They get married on March 26th.

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-More paper.

-More paper!

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Off the marriage of Frederick

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there is the possibility of one, two,

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three, four, five, six, seven,

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eight, nine children. Erm, yeah...!

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Nine children means nine more leads for the heir hunters to follow up.

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This search is only just getting going.

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It's been a mad half-hour, hour or so.

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The tree has just ballooned out.

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I think we're finding stuff quicker than Dave could write it on the tree.

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It's too easy!

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A lot of competition on this, as we thought we were going to have,

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so fingers crossed they'll go with Fraser's.

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Their rivals may be snapping at their heels,

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but for the moment, there's no stopping the heir hunters.

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They've found six more of Ethel's first cousins and heirs.

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Her uncle, Frederick Climpson, had nine children.

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Three died, but the rest are alive and well and all living in the same area.

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Ipswich. See there? All Suffolk addresses.

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Yeah. Ipswich is coming out here as well.

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Hopefully we'll be able to contact someone. I think what we need is some phone calls on this.

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Yeah, I agree with you. Now.

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Heir hunter David Pacifico joins the team.

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This case is expanding so fast that they need another case manager just to keep pace with developments.

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With the competition breathing down their necks, the two Davids

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make some pre-emptive phone calls to the heirs in Ipswich.

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What I wonder if it's possible, sir, is if I can have

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one of my representatives come and see you today and explain...

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David Slee gets through to Ethel's cousin Bryan, and he's desperate to get Fraser's foot in the door.

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So if you wouldn't mind, even if another company

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does approach you, let my chap have a word with you as well.

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It's still only 8:45, and Dave Hadley has already arrived in Woodford Green...

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..at the address he's been given for Ethel's cousin June.

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Sorry to trouble you so early without an appointment.

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I actually wanted to speak to your wife June, if that's possible.

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-She's in bed.

-Oh, right. OK. Can I make an appointment to see her today?

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-Would that be possible?

-Yes.

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That would be fantastic. Thank you. Bye-bye.

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Hi, Dave. I've confirmed that the lady does live there. She's in bed at the moment.

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So I've made an appointment to interview her in an hour's time.

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One hour. OK. I need...

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I'm also trying to get you for some interviews in Ipswich.

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This is a setback they didn't need.

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With heirs lined up ready to be interviewed, time is of the essence.

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I'm just going to have to sit here patiently for the next hour until Mrs Brown is ready to see me.

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Rather than give ground to the competition,

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David Pacifico decides he needs even more manpower on the case.

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Ethel Climpson, daughter of George Charles Climpson...

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He brings senior researcher on the road Ewart Lindsay up to speed.

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-Right, do you want to head to Ipswich?

-All right, Dave.

-Speak to you later. Thanks, Ewart.

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-Yeah. Bye.

-Bye.

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It's all manic, isn't it? It's all go!

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It will be at least an hour-and-a-half before Ewart can get to Ipswich, but back in the office,

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a whole new team of heir hunters have started researching Ethel's mother's family, the Norrises.

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They're headed up by David number three, David Milchard, AKA Grimble.

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Hold on.

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Jo, are you still doing this side? Yeah, the big Norris side.

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They know that Ethel's mother was born in West Ham in London.

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But unlike Climpson, Norris has not been such an easy name to research.

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Norris is not a bad name.

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I mean, it's not Smith or Jones or anything like that.

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But there are quite a lot of them, and we've got at least two of everything in West Ham.

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So we can't say, "Oh, it's that one," and move on.

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While the maternal team carry on their investigations in the office,

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over in Woodford Green, Dave Hadley's hour of waiting is over.

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-Hello! Is it convenient?

-Come in.

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Thank you very much. Thank you.

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He's finally getting to speak to June and her husband Gordon.

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Fraser's have invested a lot in this case, so Dave needs this interview to be a success.

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Well, I won't disclose who the person is that's died at the moment,

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because we have to protect our interests, and until we've got an agreement from the client

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that they're prepared for us to deal with it, then...

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But once we've got that, then we'll give full disclosure.

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-But what I can tell you...

-KNOCK ON DOOR

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A knock on the door reveals the competition has finally caught up with them.

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Coming up on the show, the race is now on to sign up heirs, and Fraser & Fraser's rivals are closing in.

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KNOCK ON DOOR

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-Who's that?

-But having come so far, will the heir hunters end up losing it all?

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When the heir hunters come across a deceased person who was born and died in the same area,

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it often means that their search will be focused there.

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But in the case of Howell Morgan, their investigation took them to the end of the Earth and back.

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Howell died aged 77 in South Wales.

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Sadly, this water-damaged photograph is the only one that survives of him.

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He lived the last years of his life in this residential caravan park.

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Neighbour Carol Jenkins remembered him as a very private man who everyone knew as H.

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We met H about 15 years ago, when he moved in next door to my mother.

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In the evenings, you'd go past there, there would just be a small lamp on,

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he'd be at his table - because you could see through the curtains - and he'd be reading, doing a crossword.

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My husband'd come home in the night, shout, "Night, H!"

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His arm'd come up, shout, "Night!" back. And that was his whole routine.

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Colwyn Evans lived a few caravans down from Howell.

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The two men saw a lot of each other.

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Well, he kept himself to himself.

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He was a great fella to know, very, very, very quiet.

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Howell had lived in the Barry area all his life, so when details of his estate were released by

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the Treasury, Welsh heir-hunting company Celtic Research

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were well-placed to pick up the investigation.

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Celtic Research is run by Peter Birchwood, who,

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along with his wife Maria, took on the task of tracking down Howell Morgan's heirs.

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I first got the estate of Howell Morgan around about September 2007.

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It was valued at roughly 20,000 at the time.

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Morgan is a very common surname in Wales, so trying to locate

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Howell's records was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

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But Peter's well used to this kind of challenge.

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He relies a lot on the local community and word of mouth,

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so the first thing they did was ask the neighbours.

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We never actually seen visitors go back and forth,

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not even over the Christmas period or holidays or anything.

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Although they drew a blank at first, slowly Celtic Research started to uncover information that revealed

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that the quiet man from Barry had in fact lived a life full of adventure, crisscrossing the globe.

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Howell grew up within sight of the busy docks and the sea,

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which must have inspired him to enlist in the Royal Navy when he was 17.

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He later left due to injury and joined the Merchant Marines.

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It looks very much as if Howell saw a local company,

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the Natural Environment Research Council,

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operating two ships out of Barry docks,

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and he could very well have gone, knocked on the door and said, "Have you got a job for a sailor?"

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Howell started out on his research ships as an uncertificated deck hand.

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These were the men whose brute strength and extreme physical efforts put ships

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of this kind to sea and allowed them to carry out their duties.

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For these research ships, a lot of the work is done,

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obviously, at sea, putting stuff in the water, dredging,

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working with ropes, working on deck, what traditionally everybody thinks sailors do.

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It wasn't long before Howell moved up the ranks.

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After 18 months as a deck hand on a merchant ship, he could take his

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Efficient Deck Hand certificate, and he obviously did that, because when he went onto the Shackleton,

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he is logged on as an EDH - efficient deck hand.

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The Shackleton was named after Sir Ernest Shackleton, famous polar explorer.

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She was one of four ships that took part in the British Antarctic Survey in the '60s and early '70s,

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leaving every October and only returning home the following May or June.

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Peter Barker was a scientist and principal investigator

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on board the Shackleton and remembers Howell from that time.

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I first met Howell Morgan soon after the ship left the UK, I guess.

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Clearly, he'd been to sea before many times.

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He was a good, competent seaman.

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Being at sea over the festive period, the crew would try to

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find somewhere suitable to anchor so they could enjoy a merry Christmas.

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But one year, it didn't go according to plan.

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We couldn't get anywhere near any shallow water on Christmas Day, so we postponed Christmas.

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So we were working on Christmas Day.

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We wanted to use the winch to do some dredging,

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and Howell came up and operated the winch

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because he was the only person sober enough to do it.

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The other seamen had decided that it was Christmas

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on the 25th of December and they were going to get drunk, so they couldn't work.

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But not Howell. He was a very pleasant sort of person, had a good personality.

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As they gathered information about Howell,

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the heir hunters had also unearthed a paper trail of certificates.

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His birth certificate showed his parents

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to be William Morgan and Olive Rees, and knowing this, they were able to search for any siblings.

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The research showed us that he'd been one of three children -

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two sisters and himself as the brother.

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Howell's sisters would both be potential heirs to his estate.

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Peter couldn't find any recent evidence of his older sister,

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but he traced the younger one to London, where she married in 1958.

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The sister, Sylvia - unfortunately, she'd died,

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but she had had two children.

0:22:070:22:10

Sylvia's two children were Stephanie and Howard,

0:22:100:22:14

and they were also in line to inherit a share of Howell's £20,000 estate.

0:22:140:22:18

But there the trail ran dry.

0:22:210:22:23

Celtic Research tried to find the girl Stephanie but couldn't find any sign of her.

0:22:230:22:28

We couldn't find any marriages for her,

0:22:280:22:31

and we couldn't find any trace that she was living in England or Wales.

0:22:310:22:37

With his investigation at a standstill,

0:22:390:22:41

Peter needed to look further afield to locate the heirs to Howell's £20,000 estate.

0:22:410:22:47

Little did he know his search was about to go global.

0:22:470:22:50

For every case that is solved, there are still thousands that remain a mystery.

0:22:580:23:03

Currently, over 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.

0:23:030:23:10

Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope that eventually

0:23:130:23:17

someone will remember and come forward to claim their inheritance.

0:23:170:23:21

With estates valued at anything from 5,000 to millions of pounds,

0:23:230:23:27

the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.

0:23:270:23:30

Today, we've got two cases heir hunters have so far failed to solve.

0:23:330:23:37

Could you be the key? Could you be in line for a payout?

0:23:370:23:41

Shirley Anne Meanley died in Epsom, Surrey, on the 20th of May, 2005.

0:23:410:23:47

Was Shirley a friend or neighbour of yours?

0:23:470:23:50

Could you even be related to her and entitled to her estate?

0:23:500:23:54

Irene Middleton passed away on the 2nd of October, 2006 in Fulham, London.

0:23:570:24:04

If no relatives come forward, her money will go to the Government.

0:24:040:24:07

But should it be headed your way?

0:24:070:24:09

Still to come on the show, the race to find Ethel Climpson's

0:24:160:24:20

heirs hots up, and for one of them, life will never be the same again.

0:24:200:24:26

Well, that was a surprise! I mean,

0:24:260:24:28

one phone call, it altered things quite dramatically.

0:24:280:24:33

Back on the Howell Morgan case, Celtic Research have managed to identify all three of his heirs.

0:24:390:24:45

But they couldn't find two of them, his elder sister and his niece, Stephanie.

0:24:450:24:50

Luckily, Peter did find a phone number for Howell's nephew and heir Howard, who led him to Stephanie.

0:24:500:24:57

The answer was, once her brother Howard had spoken to me,

0:24:590:25:04

was that she had moved to Ireland and was living there.

0:25:040:25:08

-Come on, girls!

-Stephanie had lived in Ireland since 2002.

0:25:140:25:19

She moved there with her husband and family in search of the good life

0:25:190:25:23

and a peaceful rural upbringing for their three children.

0:25:230:25:27

Well, out of the blue I got a letter one afternoon, opened it up and I had the shock of my life.

0:25:270:25:34

Basically, it was outlining my family members and that my uncle had died,

0:25:340:25:39

and that was a complete shock to me. I had no idea whatsoever.

0:25:390:25:44

Howell sort of lost contact with us when my mother died, really.

0:25:450:25:50

Everybody moves on, and we're all busy with our lives.

0:25:500:25:53

You forget to write the letter or return the call, so we basically sort of left it at,

0:25:530:25:59

"We're OK and we'll let you know."

0:25:590:26:01

Although she grew up in London, Stephanie has happy memories

0:26:040:26:08

of trips back to Wales to visit her grandmother in Barry.

0:26:080:26:12

When I was younger, I spent every summer holiday there for eight weeks at a time.

0:26:120:26:17

When my uncle was home from sea, we used to go out, and yeah, we were very, very close.

0:26:170:26:25

It seems that Stephanie did hold a special place in her uncle's heart.

0:26:260:26:31

The sea-hardened sailor may have been thousands of miles

0:26:310:26:34

away in the freezing Southern Ocean, but he still spared a thought for his favourite niece.

0:26:340:26:39

I was given a soft toy penguin, which I was quite surprised, because I didn't expect it from my uncle.

0:26:390:26:46

He was rough and tough, and a fluffy toy was the last thing.

0:26:460:26:50

But no, he sent me a penguin from the Antarctic.

0:26:500:26:54

Stephanie had a collection of family keepsakes.

0:26:540:26:58

Sadly, much of it, including many photographs of Howell, was lost in a flood several years ago.

0:26:580:27:04

But one did survive.

0:27:040:27:06

This, unfortunately, is the only photograph I have of my uncle.

0:27:070:27:11

It's very faded and very old.

0:27:110:27:14

That's my uncle. That sums him up, actually.

0:27:140:27:17

He's in the background - "Leave me alone, I'm having a cigarette."

0:27:170:27:20

And that's the special one.

0:27:200:27:23

I can replace all these, but I can't replace that one.

0:27:230:27:27

Celtic Research had now located two of the three heirs to Howell's £20,000 estate.

0:27:310:27:37

But although Stephanie had some old photographs of the third, her aunt and Howell's older sister,

0:27:370:27:43

she didn't have a current address for her.

0:27:430:27:46

It was then that Peter made a lucky discovery.

0:27:460:27:49

He had come across a copy of Howell's mother's will,

0:27:490:27:52

which gave an address for his sister and took this heir hunt 3,000 miles, from Barry to Canada.

0:27:520:28:00

Although the address wasn't current, he took a chance that she was still living in the same area.

0:28:000:28:06

I advertised in the local newspaper and was very fortunate

0:28:060:28:12

that within a few days she had been told of the advert and contacted me.

0:28:120:28:19

It was a shock to her when I told her that her brother had died.

0:28:190:28:24

It was unfortunate that the sister had not managed

0:28:240:28:29

to get in touch with Howell and, equally,

0:28:290:28:33

he had never got in touch with her.

0:28:330:28:36

Although brother and sister didn't manage to speak before he died,

0:28:360:28:40

Stephanie did make an effort to contact her uncle a few years ago.

0:28:400:28:44

I went through the phone book and I found a few Howell Morgans, and I tried every one,

0:28:440:28:49

and somebody said yes, they knew him and they knew where he went at night with his friends.

0:28:490:28:54

And I asked them to let him know that I was looking for him, and I left my address.

0:28:540:29:00

And the next thing I know, I had a letter straight out of the blue, and I was overjoyed.

0:29:000:29:05

Totally overjoyed.

0:29:050:29:07

Sadly, that letter was lost in the flood that also claimed her photographs of him.

0:29:070:29:12

But Stephanie does still have a couple of other letters

0:29:120:29:15

that he wrote to her over the years that she holds very dear.

0:29:150:29:18

Howell was clearly very fond of his niece in Ireland, but to his neighbours in the residential park,

0:29:250:29:31

he was always a private man about whom they knew very little right up to the day he died.

0:29:310:29:37

Well, my mother had said the light had been on for two nights

0:29:370:29:40

and she hadn't heard him walking round in there.

0:29:400:29:44

We went in the bedroom, and he was curled up on the beds.

0:29:440:29:48

I would have contacted H's family, but unfortunately

0:29:480:29:52

there was no contact numbers that we knew of.

0:29:520:29:56

So it was just unfortunate. We just had to contact the police.

0:29:560:29:59

In the end, half of Howell's estate went to his sister and half was split between his niece and nephew.

0:29:590:30:07

It turned out to be worth less than £20,000, but for Stephanie, it wasn't about the money.

0:30:070:30:13

I received just under £2,000. It was nice to have, it did help.

0:30:140:30:20

I would obviously prefer my uncle to be around, that meant more to me than any money.

0:30:200:30:26

Money aside, Howell's greatest gift to his niece was his love of the sea.

0:30:270:30:32

It's something that's stayed with her all her life, and somewhere she often goes to remember him.

0:30:320:30:38

I think of my childhood, and how it was in the summer in Wales

0:30:380:30:43

and times with my uncle, spent at the place he loved.

0:30:430:30:46

I love it, and it feels like coming home.

0:30:460:30:48

And I think he would have been proud to think I was back on the water's edge.

0:30:480:30:52

Amongst the boats.

0:30:520:30:54

Fraser & Fraser have been investigating the case of 88-year-old Ethel Climpson

0:31:060:31:11

who died intestate, leaving what Neil Fraser hopes will be a £200,000 estate.

0:31:110:31:17

What I have been able to find out is the house she was living in was sold on 4th December.

0:31:170:31:22

To me, that indicates the property has been sold as she's moved into a nursing home.

0:31:220:31:27

If their hunch is correct, and she did own her home

0:31:270:31:30

in Leytonstone before it was sold, then her estate could be worth several hundred thousand pounds.

0:31:300:31:35

The possibility of a huge payout has attracted a lot of competition

0:31:350:31:40

from rival companies and the hunt for heirs has been fast and furious.

0:31:400:31:45

In only a couple of hours, Fraser's managed to trace the first of Ethel's many heirs.

0:31:450:31:50

But just then, the competition came knocking.

0:31:520:31:55

Fortunately for heir hunter Dave Hadley, June sticks to her guns and hears him out.

0:31:550:32:01

You're going to get a few companies contacting you, I'll tell you now.

0:32:010:32:04

-Really?

-There's about four or five of us and we compete against one another.

0:32:040:32:10

And that's why I was so keen to speak to your wife this morning, rather than this afternoon.

0:32:100:32:17

Yes. Oh, how strange!

0:32:170:32:18

So your mother was Bertha, wasn't she? Bertha Climpson?

0:32:180:32:22

Dave gets on with interviewing June and at the same time, confirms some of the details of her family tree.

0:32:220:32:28

And the younger brother, I can remember my mother said, he moved down into Essex.

0:32:280:32:34

And of course in those days, they didn't

0:32:340:32:37

have a lot of contact as there wasn't phones and things like that.

0:32:370:32:41

-That's as far as my memory takes me back.

-You've lost contact with them, presumably?

0:32:410:32:45

I never knew him. I never knew any of her brothers.

0:32:450:32:51

June's uncle, Frederick Climpson, lost contact with

0:32:510:32:55

her mother Bertha when he moved away from London, so he never met June or her brother George.

0:32:550:33:01

But his children and grandchildren are now living in Ipswich in Suffolk, and as they speak,

0:33:010:33:07

an heir hunter is on his way to interview them.

0:33:070:33:10

Right, well thanks ever so much. Lovely to meet you, bye-bye.

0:33:110:33:15

-I hope you get on in your quest!

-Thank you.

0:33:150:33:19

The money side doesn't, to be honest, bother me too much.

0:33:240:33:28

But it would be interesting to see the family tree and the relatives

0:33:300:33:37

and maybe have some contact with them.

0:33:370:33:41

Because all my life, I've never known them.

0:33:410:33:44

Whilst I was there, somebody knocked on the door, left their card.

0:33:460:33:49

-But I think we're pretty secure on this one. She's not going to go back on this one.

-No, lovely.

0:33:490:33:55

Thanks, mate.

0:33:550:33:56

Bye-bye.

0:33:560:33:58

The competition is particularly fierce. I know of at least two other companies,

0:33:580:34:02

I think there's probably a third, maybe even a fourth company working on this case as well.

0:34:020:34:05

But we're certainly ahead of the majority of the competition.

0:34:050:34:09

As the next hour or two hours develops, we'll be able to see exactly where we are.

0:34:090:34:13

At last, Ewart arrives in Suffolk for his interview with Hazel...

0:34:150:34:20

-Hello. Mrs Terry?

-..the granddaughter of Ethel's Uncle Frederick.

0:34:200:34:24

Just confirm your full name for me.

0:34:240:34:27

With her husband Bernard looking on, the interview has only just got

0:34:270:34:31

going when all of a sudden, they're interrupted.

0:34:310:34:34

KNOCK AT THE DOOR Who's that?

0:34:340:34:37

That's the other gentleman.

0:34:420:34:44

-That's the other company?

-Must be.

0:34:440:34:46

I had a phone call this morning.

0:34:460:34:49

Once again, one of their competitors is on the doorstep.

0:34:490:34:52

But Heather's already made up her mind to go with Fraser's.

0:34:520:34:55

Nice meeting you. All the best.

0:34:550:34:57

Ewart has won the day, but only just.

0:34:570:35:01

I tell you, a very close call.

0:35:010:35:03

Luckily the heir's husband literally just told the guy to go away.

0:35:030:35:07

Isn't that interesting? Job well done to me.

0:35:070:35:09

Things are going well in Suffolk, but back in London,

0:35:140:35:17

they're still having problems confirming the maternal side of Ethel's family tree.

0:35:170:35:21

Ethel's grandparents were John Norris and Ann McEvoy.

0:35:210:35:25

Her mother, also called Ethel, was one of eight children, amongst whom was a boy called Leonard.

0:35:250:35:32

The team have found records of a Leonard Norris who they think could be Ethel's youngest brother.

0:35:320:35:36

Through him, they found several living relatives who could be Ethel's heirs.

0:35:360:35:43

However, they need proof that this Leonard Norris has the same parents as Ethel.

0:35:430:35:47

So they've sent senior researcher Bob Smith to look for his marriage certificate.

0:35:470:35:53

Yep, it's right.

0:35:530:35:55

Leonard Norris, son of John Norris.

0:35:550:36:00

Dave, hi, it's Bob. I got the marriage, it looks right.

0:36:000:36:03

Bob phones in the good news to the office and they give him his new instructions.

0:36:030:36:08

I now have to move on very quickly took Milton Keynes to see

0:36:080:36:12

Wendy Smith, who we now know is definitely related to our deceased.

0:36:120:36:17

Leonard Norris and his wife Charlotte had three children.

0:36:190:36:22

Their son, also called Leonard, married Elsie and had one daughter, Wendy.

0:36:220:36:27

Ethel's first cousin once removed.

0:36:270:36:30

So Bob now becomes travelling heir hunter

0:36:320:36:34

number three to hit the road in search of heirs to Ethel's estate, which could be worth up to £250,000.

0:36:340:36:42

Our decision, I think, to have three travellers,

0:36:420:36:46

the three Daves case-managing, and all the researchers downstairs, is starting to pay off now.

0:36:460:36:52

Because we really have swamped it with resources, swamped it

0:36:520:36:55

with people, and that's why we're ahead of all of our competition.

0:36:550:36:58

For Dave Milchard and the team in the office, it's definitely been a good day's work.

0:36:580:37:03

We're finished at the moment, no more to do until tomorrow.

0:37:030:37:09

But for the travelling heir hunters on the road, the day is a long way from being over.

0:37:130:37:18

Ewart is still working his way through his list

0:37:180:37:20

of heirs on the paternal, Climpson side of the family.

0:37:200:37:24

-Hello, Mrs Smith?

-Hello, yes.

0:37:240:37:25

I'm Robert from Fraser & Fraser.

0:37:250:37:27

While in Milton Keynes, Bob finally arrives

0:37:270:37:30

at Wendy Smith's house, a cousin of Ethel's on her maternal side.

0:37:300:37:35

How many children from your parents' marriage?

0:37:350:37:37

-Just me.

-Just you, an only child.

-Yeah.

-That will certainly help you.

0:37:370:37:40

-You inherit your father's share, so if there were any other children, obviously...

-We'd have to split them.

0:37:400:37:45

Exactly, yeah.

0:37:450:37:48

No wonder Wendy's pleased - she could be in line to receive around £20,000.

0:37:480:37:54

It's early morning on Friday and some shocking news has come through to Fraser's Central London office

0:38:030:38:09

concerning Ethel's old home in Leytonstone.

0:38:090:38:12

Heir hunter David Pacifico is in a sombre mood as he puts in a call to Ewart.

0:38:120:38:20

-It's likely to be a low-value case now.

-Oh, is it?

0:38:210:38:25

-Yeah.

-How much?

0:38:250:38:27

Don't know, but she didn't own the property.

0:38:270:38:29

Oh, God!

0:38:290:38:32

Unfortunately. But there you are.

0:38:320:38:34

It turns out that Ethel rented, rather than owned, her home.

0:38:340:38:38

So her estate didn't benefit from its sale after all.

0:38:380:38:41

I'm just a bit cheesed off.

0:38:410:38:45

I don't blame you. I feel the same.

0:38:450:38:48

We've gone back over and checked a few things

0:38:480:38:51

and it looks as though our initial estimate on the valuation

0:38:510:38:55

of the case may have been slightly too high.

0:38:550:38:58

It may not be the £200,000 we thought, it could be even down to £5,000, which is...

0:38:580:39:04

a harsh reality for us if that is the case, because we've had so many people working on it.

0:39:040:39:11

It's a massive disappointment for the heir hunters.

0:39:110:39:13

But for the heirs themselves, there is definitely a silver lining to this cloud.

0:39:130:39:19

Let's put it this way, we've achieved something in this case by putting people back in contact.

0:39:190:39:25

We should be pleased about that.

0:39:250:39:27

When she was first contacted by Fraser & Fraser,

0:39:310:39:34

June wasn't even sure that she had any living relatives on her mother's side.

0:39:340:39:38

A couple of weeks later, and heir hunter David Pacifico has been in touch with some exciting news.

0:39:380:39:44

I said to him, "Am I the only first cousin?"

0:39:440:39:49

And he said, "No, because there's this uncle up in Suffolk

0:39:490:39:56

"that had nine children!"

0:39:560:39:59

Well, that was a surprise!

0:39:590:40:01

In one phone call, he'd altered things quite dramatically!

0:40:010:40:06

June's Uncle Frederick moved from London to Suffolk

0:40:070:40:10

and had nine children, of which six are still alive.

0:40:100:40:13

They're all Ethel's heirs and all completely unaware that they had a cousin.

0:40:130:40:19

It was a real shock because I just thought there was only my brothers and sisters.

0:40:190:40:24

I never dreamt there was anybody else.

0:40:240:40:28

Thank you very much.

0:40:280:40:29

My dad never discussed his family with us, so we just had no idea.

0:40:290:40:33

Hello.

0:40:330:40:35

Hello, June!

0:40:350:40:37

-You're Jean?

-I'm Jean, yes.

0:40:370:40:39

-How lovely to meet you.

-Come in.

0:40:390:40:44

Wow.

0:40:440:40:45

-THEY LAUGH

-There's a number to meet!

0:40:470:40:50

-This is my eldest brother, Ron.

-How do you do, Ron?

0:40:500:40:52

-My sister, Pat.

-Right.

0:40:520:40:54

So you were Climpsons, you were all Climpsons, that's amazing.

0:40:540:41:02

You've got photographs, and so have I!

0:41:020:41:05

I'll have to get all this...

0:41:050:41:08

That's our dad and mum.

0:41:080:41:11

-Really?

-That's Fred. Frederick.

0:41:110:41:13

That's Frederick. Oh, this is wonderful.

0:41:130:41:16

Quite elated!

0:41:160:41:19

Quite elated. It's really lovely seeing all these people.

0:41:190:41:22

When June walked through the door, it was excitement, trepidation, because you didn't know

0:41:220:41:28

what we were going to find out about my dad's family.

0:41:280:41:30

So that's your Aunt Bertha.

0:41:300:41:32

-So that's dad's sister.

-Yes.

-You can see the likeness.

0:41:320:41:36

Yes, I expect you can. I shall have to compare again.

0:41:360:41:38

Oh, yes. Definitely.

0:41:380:41:40

Definitely saw the resemblance in the photographs of my father and June's mother.

0:41:400:41:47

Very much alike, I thought.

0:41:470:41:49

That was my grandma, which would have been...

0:41:490:41:52

it would have been your grandma, wouldn't it? Yes, of course it would. Of course it would.

0:41:520:41:57

Ethel may not have left a large estate, but her actual legacy is much more important.

0:41:570:42:03

Because of her, the scattered family has been brought together. And they couldn't be more delighted.

0:42:030:42:10

Oh, it's been a fantastic event, really.

0:42:100:42:12

Because I don't think it would have come about had this not have happened.

0:42:120:42:17

We've now found out about what we never knew anything about.

0:42:170:42:20

Now, this is the older brother, this is Henry, but always known as Uncle Harry.

0:42:200:42:27

He was my mother's favourite!

0:42:270:42:30

I'm pleased that I've been able to fill in a few gaps for them,

0:42:300:42:33

because I think they've been more in the dark than I've been.

0:42:330:42:36

It's amazing you've got nothing.

0:42:360:42:38

-Nothing at all.

-Oh, I'm quite a revelation, aren't I?!

0:42:380:42:44

It's given me great pleasure.

0:42:440:42:46

If you would like to find out more about how to build a family tree,

0:42:500:42:56

or write a will, go to -

0:42:560:42:59

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0:43:060:43:09

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