0:00:02 > 0:00:03Today, the heir hunters face a challenge.
0:00:03 > 0:00:10They're searching for heirs to an estate that could be worth from 5,000 to millions of pounds.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15They're looking for long-lost relatives who have no idea they're in line for a windfall.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Could they be knocking at your door?
0:00:34 > 0:00:35On today's programme...
0:00:35 > 0:00:38The heir hunters learn about the tragic deaths
0:00:38 > 0:00:40of three young children
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and it leads them to a story of a truly shocking crime.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48So she was obviously taken to Broadmoor after that.
0:00:48 > 0:00:54And the death of an only child from County Mayo leads to a record-breaking family tree.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56It was like pennies from heaven.
0:00:56 > 0:01:02Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:15 > 0:01:21Every year in the UK, an estimated 300,000 people die without leaving a will.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26If no relatives are found, then any money that's left behind will go to the government.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32Last year, they made £12 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35That's where the heir hunters come in.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40They make it their business to track down missing relatives and help them claim their inheritance.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I make sure that the government doesn't seize assets
0:01:47 > 0:01:49which do not belong to them.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01It's Thursday morning in the offices of heir hunters Fraser and Fraser, and partner Charles Fraser
0:02:01 > 0:02:05is poring over the Treasury's weekly list of unclaimed estates.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Today, there don't seem to be any obviously high-value cases,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13so he decides to make a start on one of the more intriguing ones.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21One of the cases we've decided to look at today is the case of Marjorie Ruth Chapman.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24So far, we know that she came from Hornchurch in Essex.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28She was divorced and died in a nursing home.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33The only other information the team have is Marjorie's date of death,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36and that she also went by the surname Hiett.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42Marjorie died aged 88 on 20th August 2009.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47She passed away at this nursing home in Essex, where she spent the last 10 years of her life.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50The community here is a close-knit one.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55Staff Nurse Kochu was responsible for Marjorie's care and remembers her fondly.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59One thing we used to notice about Marjorie, when small children
0:02:59 > 0:03:03come with the visitors for other residents,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Marjorie used to say, "Oh, small baby!"
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Like that, she used to clap her hands.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13That makes her really happy, to see little children.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18But in all the time she lived at the home, Marjorie never had any visitors.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22We used to ask Marjorie, "Marjorie, have you got a husband?"
0:03:22 > 0:03:25She doesn't answer.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27"Have you got any brothers and sisters?"
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Marjorie doesn't answer.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33For those kinds of questions, Marjorie doesn't give you any answer.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36By the time she died,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Marjorie was in the advanced stages of dementia,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43so her behaviour could be very erratic.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49By day, she would be shouting, shedding tears,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51and she will say, "My two boys".
0:03:51 > 0:03:56Marjorie always used to say, when she was not in a good mood,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58"My two boys, my two boys."
0:03:58 > 0:04:03So, we used to ask Marjorie, "What happened to your boys, Marjorie?"
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Then she doesn't give answer for that.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13When Marjorie died, her funeral was attended by her social worker and the nurses from the home.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17It was a small affair for a big character.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Marjorie used to fill our unit.
0:04:21 > 0:04:28If Marjorie's in a good mood, Marjorie used to be very good, so we really miss Marjorie.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32In the office, the team are beginning the search for Marjorie's heirs.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36As yet, they've got no idea about the value of her estate,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41although it has to be worth at least £5,000 to appear on the Treasury's list.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The heir hunters work on commission, so they're hoping it's worth more.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Otherwise, they may not be able to justify working this case.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Case manager Dave Slee has taken charge and he's drafted in
0:04:53 > 0:04:57researcher Michael, who's going to be helping him on this case.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Out on the road, Dave's recruited senior researcher, Bob Smith,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03who's going to be his man on the street.
0:05:05 > 0:05:11The company employs several travelling heir hunters like Bob, who are based all over the country.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15It's their job to chase up any lead, no matter where it takes them,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and make sure if there are heirs to be found, they're first on the doorstep.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Bob's first job of the day is to track down Marjorie's death certificate,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27which should contain crucial information like her date and place of birth.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Hi, Dave. I've got the death certificate of this lady.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37- She's born on 5th December 1917. - Yeah.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39No place of birth.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45Frustratingly, the death certificate doesn't say where Marjorie was born,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48which will make it harder to find her birth certificate.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52They need that because it will tell them who her parents were, which could lead them to heirs.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57But researcher Michael may have had a breakthrough.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01He's found a marriage for a Marjorie Ruth Chapman to a John Hiett,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03which he thinks took place in India.
0:06:03 > 0:06:09Because Hiett is such an unusual name, the team are confident it's the right one.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13They've discovered that this marriage produced three children.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15There would be these three children.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19A Martin John, born circa 1943.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24A John A, born circa 1950, Folkestone,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and a Derek Michael, born 1946.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31But the team have made a sad discovery about Marjorie and John's family.
0:06:31 > 0:06:38All three children appear to die in the March quarter 1953 in Portsmouth.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Really?
0:06:40 > 0:06:44It seems the family suffered a terrible tragedy that year
0:06:44 > 0:06:47that led to the death of Marjorie's children.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Were these the boys that she referred to in the nursing home?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52For the heir hunters,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55this means they will have to widen their search.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00They know that John and Marjorie got divorced and none of his family will be heirs.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06Now they desperately need to find out if Marjorie had any siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10But without knowing her place of birth, they're stumped.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12We're a little bit behind on this one.
0:07:12 > 0:07:19So Dave decides to send Bob to the nursing home where Marjorie died to see what he can find out there.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21- If you wouldn't mind doing an inquiry?- Yep.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23And we'll see where we go.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30While Bob heads off, Dave ponders the tragic facts that have come to light so far in this case.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37It'll be interesting to see why all three children died in the same year.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41One would have been ten,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45one would have been three, and one would have been seven.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Smacks of an accident.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The team need to know where Marjorie was born.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54All they have to go one at the moment is her marriage
0:07:54 > 0:07:56which they believe took place in India.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59See if there something on that.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Now Michael has found records which back up that theory.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05We've got this in '47,
0:08:06 > 0:08:11Marjorie R Hiett coming over from India with her two kids.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16He's found a passenger list from a ship coming over from India in 1947.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Another one coming back from Mozambique.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24John Alfred Hiett and Marjorie Ruth.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26What was his occupation, then?
0:08:26 > 0:08:28He's in some sort of armed forces.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It looks like Marjorie's husband, John,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33was an officer in the British Army
0:08:33 > 0:08:35and she and their two eldest children
0:08:35 > 0:08:37were following him around the world.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41With no further information about where Marjorie came from,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Dave turns to John's family.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46If he has any living relatives who knew Marjorie,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48they might remember where she was born,
0:08:48 > 0:08:50or if she had any family.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56Because Hiett is an unusual name, this search is easy to carry out.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01Michael's just given me this family tree, which we've pinned together.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Which, if it's all correct,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09the deceased husband has a brother called Ronald,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14who's deceased, but his widow is alive,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16living in north London.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Norma Hiett was Marjorie's sister-in-law.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23She's not a blood relative so she can't inherit, but Dave's hoping
0:09:23 > 0:09:25that she might be able to shed some light on this case.
0:09:25 > 0:09:31It's a long shot, but it sometimes pays dividends
0:09:31 > 0:09:32to interview people like this.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Meanwhile, Bob Smith is arriving at the nursing home
0:09:36 > 0:09:38where Marjorie passed away,
0:09:38 > 0:09:44hoping to uncover some vital nugget of information that will reinvigorate this search.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48We're trying to trace any family
0:09:48 > 0:09:52of a lady called Marjorie Ruth Chapman.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55What I will do is I will check in the register.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Place of birth would be really handy if you've got it, obviously.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03The register should hold all the information that the care home have on Marjorie.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Bob's hoping for a major breakthrough.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12- She came from St George's Hospital. - OK.- Up the road.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17- Thank you very much indeed. - You're welcome.- Nice to meet you. - Cheers. Bye-bye.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Not a very successful inquiry for Bob.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25No information about family at all.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28So I couldn't find anything out about the value.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34Not knowing how much this case is worth is a real problem for the heir hunters.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38The longer this investigation goes on, the more it is costing the company.
0:10:38 > 0:10:44If Marjorie's estate turns out to be worth only £5,000, then they may well be wasting their time.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47But Dave doesn't want to give up yet.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51He's keen for Bob to speak to John Heitt's sister-in-law, Norma.
0:10:51 > 0:10:58It's a long shot, but maybe Norma is old enough to remember the deceased.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02You might be able to at least pinpoint her place of birth.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05OK, mate, all right. I'll head up there now.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07- 'Sweet.'- Cheers, Dave.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Coming up, Dave gets to grips with the mysteries of Marjorie's life...
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Looking after prisoners during the Second World War.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19..and uncovers a truly shocking story.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Oh, dear.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30Heir hunters are always on a desperate search for beneficiaries, keenly aware that if they fail
0:11:30 > 0:11:33to find any, then estates will end up in the government's coffers.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37But sometimes there are so many heirs to an estate
0:11:37 > 0:11:39that the investigation can get out of control.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44One example of this was the £300,000 estate of Michael Moran.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50Michael died aged 84 on 11th March 2007 in Windsor.
0:11:50 > 0:11:56For Bob Smith of Fraser & Fraser, this investigation was not one he would forget easily.
0:11:56 > 0:12:03At the outset, this was an interesting case, because it was my first as a case manager.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05I wanted everything to go along smoothly,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09as we do with all cases, but it's turned out not to be that way.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17Michael Moran was born on 23rd August 1922 in Westport, County Mayo,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19on the West Coast of Ireland.
0:12:19 > 0:12:26Bernard Rafter is Michael's nephew by marriage and remembers Michael as a friendly, approachable fellow.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Oh, yes, he was a roly-poly type of character.
0:12:30 > 0:12:38About 5ft 9, I believe, fairly stocky, and always well dressed,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41in suits and that. Shirt and tie, that type of man.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Although Michael grew up in Ireland, he ended up moving over to London
0:12:45 > 0:12:50where he met his wife Margaret, an Irish girl from County Cork.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55I believe they first met at a dance in London, in Kilburn, the Galtymore.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59I think Michael seen her across the room and raced across to her,
0:12:59 > 0:13:05asked her for a dance and from then on they were inseparable.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Michael and Margaret were married on 27th February 1957.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Michael and Margaret were a quiet couple, unassuming,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18but they were always willing to help people out.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Bernard had first-hand experience of this kindness
0:13:22 > 0:13:25when he and his brother moved to London in the '70s.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30He invited us for Christmas dinner, he says, "There's one thing you have to do in this country,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33"you have to be a good timekeeper," and he gave me a watch.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36"You won't go far wrong with this," he says, "It won't go wrong."
0:13:36 > 0:13:38So, I've had it 35 years now,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but I keep it for special occasions, you know?
0:13:41 > 0:13:47Michael and Margaret were very happy together until Margaret passed away in 1989.
0:13:47 > 0:13:54Michael lived for another 18 years on his own, keeping busy and staying independent right up till the end.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Oh, yes, he was well respected and any time that people saw him in his neighbourhood in Burnham,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04they would come to him if there was any problem with lawnmowers, cars or watches.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09He said if you worked hard and kept your nose clean, you'll do well in this country.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10That was his view, you know?
0:14:12 > 0:14:16In London, the heir hunters were about to start the search for Michael's heirs.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The company had been contacted directly by his solicitor
0:14:20 > 0:14:23who was able to pass on some important information.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26They were able to tell us that he was a widower,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29that they believed that he died childless
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and it was thought he was an only child.
0:14:32 > 0:14:38But they also knew the names of the parents, which was quite helpful to us in the early stages.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Michael's parents were Kate Joyce and James Moran.
0:14:42 > 0:14:48Michael was indeed an only child, and three of them lived on a small farm in County Mayo.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53Bob's first move was to contact the company's agent in Ireland.
0:14:53 > 0:14:59Initially, our agent had found the paternal family on the census,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03all indications were that there would be no descendants from that side of the family.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06So we turned our attention to the maternal family.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Unfortunately, the mother of our deceased was one of nine children.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Bob was starting to realise that he may have a very large family on his hands.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Michael's mother Kate Joyce's parents were Edward Joyce and Bridget Higgins.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26They had eight further children, Mary, Patrick, John, Edward,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Anne, Margaret, Michael and Bridget.
0:15:30 > 0:15:36But just as Bob began to tackle the enormous task in front of him, everything ground to a halt.
0:15:38 > 0:15:45Although our Irish researcher agent was able to find the marriages of two of the maternal aunts and uncles,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50being one of nine children, obviously there were six or seven other aunts or uncles
0:15:50 > 0:15:52who we could find no record for at all.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56That meant that out of a family of nine, Bob could only account for two
0:15:56 > 0:15:59of the aunts' marriages - Anne and Margaret.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02The other six would remain a mystery,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06because without a marriage record, he couldn't identify their children.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Suddenly, it looked like he was never going to be able to wrap up this case.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16For the time being, though, all they could do was start tracing the descendants of the two aunts
0:16:16 > 0:16:19that had registered their marriages, but Bob was uneasy.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23We obviously had these outstanding aunts or uncles of our deceased,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27and I don't like to have that hanging over me.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Heir hunting in Ireland is notoriously difficult.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36At the turn of the 20th century, the country was under British rule.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41The General Post Office in Dublin was destroyed during the Easter rising of 1916,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44and with it, the bulk of the public records.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Added to that, many ordinary people resented the British laws
0:16:47 > 0:16:52and simply refused to register their marriages with the authorities.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55If the other Joyce siblings did get married, it may have been
0:16:55 > 0:16:58that they didn't want the British establishment to know about it.
0:16:58 > 0:17:04Bob had run into a brick wall and was in desperate need of a helping hand.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Our research agent in Ireland suggested
0:17:06 > 0:17:10that perhaps it might be a good idea to contact the local parish priest.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Father Garvey is the priest in Killawalla -
0:17:16 > 0:17:20the small town in County Mayo where Michael's family came from.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24He's the keeper of the parish register that could hold the key to Bob's search.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I'm very happy to help people
0:17:30 > 0:17:33as regards the information from the records.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34The records are good.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37They go back to 1840.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40They are births and marriages and death records.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47Unlike the local civil records, this church register holds the complete history of parish life.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51In traditional Catholic Ireland, people respected the priest and the church
0:17:51 > 0:17:55a lot more than they did the British authorities.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00They weren't too concerned about correct information
0:18:00 > 0:18:04when they were giving it to the government officials, you know?
0:18:04 > 0:18:11But I would think that the church records would be more accurate, they would have the correct dates,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15I think. They would have been entered immediately after the event.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22Father Garvey managed to find two marriage records with the same names as Michael's mother's siblings -
0:18:22 > 0:18:26John Joyce, who married Bridget Heneghan,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and Bridget Joyce, who married a Patrick O'Malley in 1887.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34But unfortunately, neither record listed a father's name.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38This case was tantalisingly close to a breakthrough,
0:18:38 > 0:18:43but there was still no way to prove that these Joyces were from the right family.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51It looked like Bob had hit yet another dead end in the search for Michael Moran's heirs.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55But just then, one of the team made an amazing discovery.
0:18:55 > 0:19:03They had found an online record for the O'Malley family, the descendants of Michael's aunt Bridget.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08Suddenly, Bob had the information he needed to help him crack this £300,000 case.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13When it was pointed out to me that this particular family
0:19:13 > 0:19:19had entered their details on this website, it was like pennies from heaven.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Coming up, Bob's hard work pays off as he begins to pull together
0:19:23 > 0:19:27one of the largest family trees in heir-hunting history.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30The thought of meeting up with everybody, it would be impossible!
0:19:30 > 0:19:33I don't think there would be a hall big enough!
0:19:38 > 0:19:45Heir hunters track down thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year, but many cases are still unsolved,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48so could you be in line for a surprise windfall?
0:19:48 > 0:19:51The Treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates
0:19:51 > 0:19:55that have so far baffled heir hunters and remain unclaimed.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01Estates stay on the list for up to 30 years and today we're focusing on three names,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04are they relatives of yours?
0:20:04 > 0:20:10Could you be about to receive a lump sum of thousands or even millions of pounds?
0:20:10 > 0:20:16Ronald Jaggard died on third of January 2002 in Felixstowe, Suffolk.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22Jaggard is an Anglo-Saxon name and means carter or merchant.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Most people with this name live in the east of England around Cambridge.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28Does anyone remember him?
0:20:29 > 0:20:37Doris May Baggott died on 15th March 2003, aged 81 in Redditch, Worcestershire.
0:20:37 > 0:20:43Baggott is an old German name that's derived from the verb "bag", meaning "to fight".
0:20:43 > 0:20:47If no heirs of Doris's are found, her money will go to the government.
0:20:49 > 0:20:56Joseph Michael Fagan died on first April 2003, aged 87 in Southwark, London.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00The majority of Fagans live in Motherwell, Scotland.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The origin is Gaelic and means a beech tree.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Joseph left no will and so far, no-one has come forward to claim his estate.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Someone out there must remember him.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18If the names Ronald Jaggard, Doris Baggott or Joseph Fagan mean anything to you or someone you know,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Heir hunter Bob Smith was trying to find the heirs
0:21:31 > 0:21:36to the £300,000 estate of Irish emigre Michael Moran.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39It was proving to be an almost impossible task.
0:21:39 > 0:21:47Although our Irish research agent found marriages of two of the maternal aunts and uncles,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49being one of nine children,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52obviously there were six or seven other aunts or uncles
0:21:52 > 0:21:54who we could find no record for at all.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00Right from the start, Bob knew that this case was going to be awash with heirs.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Michael's mother was one of nine children, and from just two stems of her family,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07he'd already found 30 beneficiaries.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10But with virtually no written records,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14he couldn't make any headway tracking down the rest of them.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Michael died in London, but he was originally from County Mayo
0:22:20 > 0:22:26on the West Coast of Ireland, where he lived with his mother and father on a small farm.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32After Michael's father died, he struggled on the land at that time.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Even though he was happy, he said it was tough and a lot of people round that time,
0:22:37 > 0:22:38from Mayo especially,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41emigrated to England and he decided to give it a go.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43He heard there was great money to be made.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Ireland has a long history of emigration.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50In the 50 years after the Great Potato Famine of 1845,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54about five million Irish people emigrated to America.
0:22:54 > 0:23:02Michael Moran left home in 1945, part of a new wave of emigrants and this time they were headed east.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07The post-war generation was something new, a new type of emigration.
0:23:07 > 0:23:15It was caused by the pull factor of Britain wanting more labour
0:23:15 > 0:23:19to reconstruct Britain after the Second World War and to build new motorways
0:23:19 > 0:23:22and build new power houses.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24And there was a gigantic exodus.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Three out of four children born in Ireland in the 1930s
0:23:28 > 0:23:32ended up leaving the country and travelling all over the world
0:23:32 > 0:23:34in search of a brighter economic future.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Michael was one of them and he decided to travel in style.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44He had a motorbike at that time and he drove all the way from County Mayo across Ireland
0:23:44 > 0:23:48to Dublin, 200 miles, and he landed at Holyhead
0:23:48 > 0:23:52and then he drove to, I think, the Midlands, and down to London.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Michael was very happy in England.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57He said he couldn't have had a better life.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00He met his wife, Margaret.
0:24:00 > 0:24:06He had a lovely job. But he said he always called Ireland home.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Heir hunter Bob Smith was desperately trying
0:24:09 > 0:24:11to assemble the missing elements
0:24:11 > 0:24:13of Michael's family tree
0:24:13 > 0:24:16in order to find all the heirs to his £300,000 estate.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20He'd made a crucial breakthrough when he found an online record
0:24:20 > 0:24:24showing the marriage of Michael's aunt Bridget to Patrick O'Malley
0:24:24 > 0:24:27which he'd previously been unable to confirm.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Taking this all into consideration,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34I thought, "Bingo, we've definitely got the right family.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35"That makes perfect sense to me."
0:24:35 > 0:24:38But Bob still had a problem -
0:24:38 > 0:24:41the online family tree wasn't an official record
0:24:41 > 0:24:46and he had no way of confirming if the information on it was correct.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51He desperately needed to speak to someone in the family who could verify that it was all true.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55One of these individuals, Patrick McLoughlin,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59was an unbelievable source of information
0:24:59 > 0:25:02in terms of the whole Joyce family.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Patrick was a cousin of Michael's,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08the grandson of Michael's aunt, Bridget Joyce.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13He remembered Michael from when they were both growing up in County Mayo.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I seen him as a boy, he'd be about three years older than me.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21But that was the custom, in those days, they had a horse and buggy, a little pony.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25And they would come up for Grandma cos she was the sister.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Bob soon realised he'd just come across the answer to his prayers.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Patrick was a walking, talking encyclopaedia of Joyce-family history.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39My mother got married the 14th November 1925.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43The other guy was born February eighth 1930.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48My young brother was born July the fifth, 1931,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51and my baby sister was born... We were all born on Sunday.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56Mr McLoughlin, who is a first cousin once removed to our deceased,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00was able to name all the aunts and uncles of our deceased, who they married,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03when they died, how many children they had,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08the names of those children, the names that those children had married,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and also some of the details of their children.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16And he was also, without reference to an address book, able to provide addresses
0:26:16 > 0:26:19and telephone numbers for these family members.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25With his incredible knowledge and memory, Patrick was able to open up more and more areas
0:26:25 > 0:26:31of the Joyce family tree, including branches that had emigrated all over the world.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Armed with the information that Patrick had given them,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38the team set about tracing the rest of Michael's heirs.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Most of the eight aunts and uncles had had many children
0:26:43 > 0:26:49and as Bob originally suspected, over time the tree just grew and grew.
0:26:49 > 0:26:56Before long, they'd found over 70 heirs but there was still one missing link.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Having spoken to Patrick McLoughlin,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and given the information that he was able to provide,
0:27:03 > 0:27:09we looked into the other branch of the family where the parish priest had identified an entry,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13which we thought at the outset was our family, but had no way of proving it.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The man they were trying to confirm was John Joyce.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20He had appeared in the parish records at Killawalla
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and they had suspected he was one of Michael's uncles.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Patrick was able to confirm this and with this information,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30they were finally able to complete this mammoth family tree.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35We then set about trying to trace descendants from this branch of the family.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Using the information that Mr McLoughlin had provided,
0:27:38 > 0:27:44we contacted the granddaughter of the person that had married in the parish church.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48One of the heirs they found through Michael's uncle John
0:27:48 > 0:27:52was Delia Stanford, Michael's first cousin once removed.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58Delia lived in Beckenham in Kent and had never heard of her cousin Michael,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00but she did know a bit about her Irish roots.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04My father was one of nine children. I think he was somewhere in the middle.
0:28:04 > 0:28:11They all left Ireland apart from Aunt Cissy and Uncle Pat, but Uncle Pat then left in the '50s.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17They went to America, London, Liverpool and Chicago.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Delia knew that she came from a large, spread-out family,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23but she was amazed by what Bob Smith told her.
0:28:23 > 0:28:29It's been fascinating, especially the immediate family,
0:28:29 > 0:28:31none of them know who these other people are.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34The thought of meeting up with everybody would be impossible!
0:28:34 > 0:28:37I don't think there'd be a hall big enough!
0:28:37 > 0:28:44It was her share of Michael's £300,000 estate that led the heir hunters to her door.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47But for Delia, it's not about the money.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52The thought of inheriting something from someone I've never met is all a little bit sad.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55I'd like to have known the person.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00By all accounts, Michael Moran was a much-loved and respected man, who lived a full
0:29:00 > 0:29:07and happy life in England, but his heart and his roots were always in the West Coast of Ireland,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10something that he shares with each and every one of his heirs.
0:29:14 > 0:29:20For Bob Smith, tracking all of Michael's heirs was a huge but ultimately very rewarding challenge.
0:29:20 > 0:29:21It's been a real learning curve.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24To date, we have as many as 100 beneficiaries.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28They're spread all over the globe.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33In 25 years of working in this industry, this has to be one
0:29:33 > 0:29:37of the largest, if not the largest, family tree I've ever come across.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48Heir hunters Fraser & Fraser are searching for the heirs to Marjorie Chapman's estate.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52She died aged 88 in a nursing home in Essex.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56So far it's been a very difficult investigation for case manager Dave Slee.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59- Have you found... You can't find a birth.- Can't find a birth.
0:29:59 > 0:30:00No trace there.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04He hasn't even managed to get hold of the deceased's birth certificate yet.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Worse still, they've got no idea how much her estate is worth.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13If it's really low value, they could be wasting their time and resources.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16It's a dilemma, you know.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19We could be throwing good money after bad, really.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25One of Dave's problems is that Marjorie herself is such a mysterious figure.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29We used to ask Marjorie, "Marjorie, have you got a husband?"
0:30:29 > 0:30:31She doesn't answer.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34"Have you got any brothers and sisters?"
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Marjorie doesn't answer.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Although she never spoke of any family,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44the team have discovered that she was once married to a John Hiett,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46from whom she later divorced.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50The couple had three sons, Martin, Derek and John,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54but then a terrible tragedy struck the family.
0:30:54 > 0:31:00All three children appear to die in the March quarter, 1953, in Portsmouth.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05This means the team are looking to Marjorie's family for heirs.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08And because they don't know where she was born, they're stumped.
0:31:08 > 0:31:14But working on the theory that Marjorie and John were married in India, Michael makes a breakthrough.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Derek Michael what?
0:31:18 > 0:31:19Prisoner of war camp?
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Born in Bhopal POW camp.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Bhopal.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Michael's found a record for one of Marjorie's sons, Derek.
0:31:32 > 0:31:38It seems that he was born in 1945 in an internment camp in India.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43Several camps were created to house the German, Italian and Japanese prisoners of war.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47What are they doing there, then? Unless he was camp commander?
0:31:47 > 0:31:52He's stationed there... With his family? Looking after prisoners
0:31:52 > 0:31:56during the Second World War and their son was born there.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Sure enough, Derek's birth certificate reveals that he was born in the camp.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06His father, John Hiett, a British officer, was stationed there during the war.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Marjorie herself worked there as a nurse,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13which came to light in photographs discovered after her death.
0:32:13 > 0:32:20In that photo album, we could see Marjorie's nursing uniform picture.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25Marjorie's duties as a nurse in Bhopal would have been very challenging.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29I imagine that the POW camps that were there in India
0:32:29 > 0:32:32would have housed a number of wounded soldiers -
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Japanese, perhaps Germans from North Africa.
0:32:36 > 0:32:42And that these men would have required both medical attention and nursing care.
0:32:42 > 0:32:47It's looking increasingly likely that Marjorie herself was born in India.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52Dave's sent a researcher to the British Library to look through the India birth records.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Noel gets a call that confirms their hunch.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00Marjorie Ruth Chapman, otherwise Ruth Marjorie Chapman,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03born 5th of the 12th 1917 in Madras,
0:33:03 > 0:33:09no father given on the birth certificate. Her mother, Kate,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11was the informant on the birth.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14So, she's illegitimate, by the looks of things.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18It's taken them most of the day, but finally the team have got hold
0:33:18 > 0:33:21of the key piece of information that they were looking for.
0:33:21 > 0:33:27Marjorie's birth certificate shows that she was born in Madras, India, in 1917.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32Her mother is listed as Kate Chapman, but there's no mention of her father.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37Marjorie had a dark complexion, so this new information could mean one of two things -
0:33:37 > 0:33:41either Marjorie's English mother Kate Chapman had a liaison
0:33:41 > 0:33:44with an Indian man that was frowned upon by her family,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47or Kate was herself Anglo-Indian,
0:33:47 > 0:33:52and had an affair with a high-ranking British officer or civilian,
0:33:52 > 0:33:56who refused to recognise a mixed-race daughter as his own.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00British officialdom really was keen to draw a line
0:34:00 > 0:34:04between British people, proper British communities, proper in India,
0:34:04 > 0:34:09and the Anglo-Indians, who were seen as of lower status.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13But unlike many of her fellow Anglo-Indians,
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Marjorie had the opportunity to overcome this prejudice.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22Working as a nurse would bring them into contact with doctors,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25obviously, but also officers who'd been wounded.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30This would certainly have been a means for them to be able to negotiate, perhaps,
0:34:30 > 0:34:35upward mobility by marrying out of their specific community.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Marjorie and John went on to have two children in India
0:34:38 > 0:34:43before the whole family sailed for England in in 1947.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47A lot of Dave's questions have been answered, but he's still unhappy.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Interesting, but it's not getting us anywhere, is it?
0:34:50 > 0:34:56The problem Dave's got now is that looking for Marjorie's family in India is going to be very expensive
0:34:56 > 0:34:59and they still don't know how much her estate is worth.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Does he keep going or pull the plug now?
0:35:02 > 0:35:05It's a big gamble.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11On the road, Bob Smith has arrived at the house of Marjorie's husband's sister-in-law,
0:35:11 > 0:35:18Norma Hiett. Norma is the team's last hope of getting some good leads on Marjorie's family in India.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21DOORBELL RINGS
0:35:24 > 0:35:27But unluckily for Bob, it looks like no-one's home!
0:35:27 > 0:35:30The only thing he can do is leave a letter for Norma
0:35:30 > 0:35:33and hope that she contacts the office when she returns.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Back in the office, Noel is starting to shift through the India records
0:35:40 > 0:35:46to see what he can turn up on Marjorie's mother, Kate Chapman.
0:35:46 > 0:35:51We don't know whether she was born in India, England, anywhere in the world, really.
0:35:51 > 0:35:58Just when the search for heirs to Marjorie Chapman's estate is looking completely hopeless,
0:35:58 > 0:35:59Dave gets a phone call.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04Norma Hiett has returned home and found the letter Bob had pushed through her door.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Norma is Dave's last hope on this case.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Can she shed some light on Marjorie's family
0:36:09 > 0:36:13and her life in India or England? Does she know what happened to her children?
0:36:13 > 0:36:19It's just to see if you knew anything about Marjorie which would help us in our inquiries.
0:36:19 > 0:36:25Norma starts off by confirming some of the facts that Dave already knew.
0:36:25 > 0:36:31So, as far as you're aware, none of her family ever came to England with her?
0:36:31 > 0:36:37I think she married in Lucknow in India to John in 1941.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40If I'm right, that they had three children -
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Martin, John, and Derek.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Then, Dave hears something for which he's completely unprepared.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51She murdered the three children.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Oh, dear.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58So she was obviously taken to Broadmoor after that.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It seems that the great mystery of Marjorie's life
0:37:05 > 0:37:09was something so terrible that no-one had even guessed at it.
0:37:09 > 0:37:15In 1953, Marjorie had tried to kill herself and her three children.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19The children had died, but she survived.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20Bye-bye now.
0:37:24 > 0:37:31So, one must presume that Marjorie spent a number of years in Broadmoor and in later life was allowed to...
0:37:31 > 0:37:36um, go into a nursing home in Hornchurch.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39So, what a tragic story, really.
0:37:42 > 0:37:48The one person still alive who knew first-hand of these terrible events is Norma Hiett,
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Marjorie's ex sister-in-law, and the widow of John's brother, Ron Hiett.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57She remembers the dreadful day when her husband heard the news.
0:37:57 > 0:38:03When he went to the office, one of the office girls showed him a cutting from the newspaper.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09And he took the paper apparently and said "Oh, my God, this is my brother."
0:38:09 > 0:38:13Norma still has the article showing the boys, John,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17and a picture of Marjorie as she looked at the time.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22Marjorie had actually been groaning in the flat
0:38:22 > 0:38:25and the neighbours had heard a groaning
0:38:25 > 0:38:28and a patrol car had turned up at the door
0:38:28 > 0:38:31and broke the door down to get in and found
0:38:31 > 0:38:36that she'd killed the three little boys by gassing them
0:38:36 > 0:38:40and it was due to, actually, the gas oven.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43And she wasn't quite dead, that's how it happened.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48At the time, John had settled Marjorie and the children
0:38:48 > 0:38:52in a flat in Portsmouth while he was stationed in Germany with the army.
0:38:52 > 0:38:58Marjorie found herself alone with the boys a long way from Norma and the rest of John's family.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03She was a very lonely girl in Portsmouth because she didn't know anybody at all,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06she was brought straight over from India.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10She was totally alone except for the three children, really.
0:39:10 > 0:39:16The boys didn't go to school as yet, so they were just there on their own.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Portsmouth in the 1950s was a very different place,
0:39:20 > 0:39:26and Marjorie as a young Indian woman may well have felt isolated from the community.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31This was a time when workers from the Empire and the former colonies
0:39:31 > 0:39:34were being brought in in quite large numbers
0:39:34 > 0:39:38to work in the postal services, the transport services,
0:39:38 > 0:39:44and this had led to some degree of anxiety and hostility towards coloured people,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46as they were then known in Britain.
0:39:46 > 0:39:52And I imagine Marjorie would have certainly perceived some hostility against her.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57Her feelings of isolation soon developed into something more serious.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00She didn't know what to do and she cried.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06She would write and phone to John and tell him that she was,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Marjorie was, being followed about
0:40:09 > 0:40:14and people were looking at her and they were trying to kill her,
0:40:14 > 0:40:19she said, but you know, it was very difficult to deal with.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25No-one will ever know exactly what drove Marjorie to commit such a terrible crime.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29It seems clear though that her already-fragile mental state
0:40:29 > 0:40:33cracked under the pressure of a lonely life in an alien environment.
0:40:33 > 0:40:39For the rest of the family, the effect of that terrible day was shattering.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43John was absolutely devastated.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48He told my husband Ron that he just didn't feel like he wanted to live anymore
0:40:48 > 0:40:53because without Marjorie, although he obviously lost his boys,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56without Marjorie, his life wasn't worth living.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02Marjorie was given a life sentence for the murders and sent to Broadmoor.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06John visited her every month until, with the help of his family,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09he managed to get back on his feet and move on.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12He got himself established.
0:41:12 > 0:41:19He became an insurance man and he then met his new wife,
0:41:19 > 0:41:24who was very similar in looks to Marjorie.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28And what of Marjorie herself?
0:41:28 > 0:41:31After John stopped visiting, she served out her sentence
0:41:31 > 0:41:35in Broadmoor without any contact with the outside world.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39In her late 70s, with her dementia already quite advanced,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43the authorities decided that Marjorie should be released into a home.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47After a lifetime of insecurity and anxiety,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Marjorie at last found herself in a place
0:41:49 > 0:41:53that offered the safety and stability she craved.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Maybe she found some comfort in that.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Marjorie really was a loving lady.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04She was so loving and she was so caring, you know?
0:42:04 > 0:42:11Marjorie used to...consider others also, so caring, so loving.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14And we really miss Marjorie.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21Back in the office, heir hunter Charles Fraser has come to a decision.
0:42:21 > 0:42:29After a lot of consideration, we've decided to stop our research on the case of Marjorie Chapman.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35It really doesn't seem cost-effective for us to carry on ploughing hours of research
0:42:35 > 0:42:39and resources into trying to find more distant relatives.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41This particular case has been quite a tragic one.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Perhaps more so than some other cases that we deal with.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47It does put things into perspective at times.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52And, yeah, nobody has failed to be moved by the story.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58If you would like advice about building your family tree or making a will, go to...
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:09 > 0:43:12E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk