Walker/West Heir Hunters


Walker/West

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Transcript


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Today, the team needs to rethink their heir-hunting tactics on a £250,000 estate.

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Today, obviously, rule one has been broken.

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They're trying to track down long-lost relatives who may

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have no idea they're in line for a windfall.

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Could they be knocking at your door?

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On today's show...

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Do you believe this Huddersfield birth?

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The estate of a professional singer causes a real headache for the Heir Hunters.

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So, things aren't looking terribly good.

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And a case spanning 200 years reveals connections to Winston Churchill

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and a surprise inheritance.

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How do I feel about inheriting from this family, which isn't my family?

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I feel quite pleased, actually!

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Plus, how you could be entitled to unclaimed estates

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where beneficiaries still need to be found.

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Could you be in line for an unexpected windfall?

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Every year in the UK,

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an estimated 300,000 people die without leaving a will.

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If no relatives are found,

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then any money that's left behind will go to the Government.

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Last year that amounted to £12 million.

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But there are over 30 specialist firms competing to stop this happening.

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They're called Heir Hunters, and they make it their business to track

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down missing relatives and help them claim their rightful inheritance.

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I love the fact that I can put families back together.

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I can reunite people.

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I can tell them secret histories about their own family

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which they didn't actually know about themselves.

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It's first thing Thursday morning,

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and while most of the country thinks about breakfast,

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Heir Hunters across the land are digesting the Treasury's latest list of unclaimed estates.

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In central London, the team at Fraser and Fraser are poring over the names,

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hoping to find a lucrative case.

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It's a little bit early, I suppose, but let's see where we go on it.

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The estates on the list are worth a minimum of £5,000,

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and could potentially be worth many millions.

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But at the moment, none of the advertised estates has got the team excited.

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It's not terribly encouraging.

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The Treasury's list doesn't say how much estates are worth,

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so the team are searching for any clues that may give them

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an idea of value.

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Do you want to have a quick look at this?

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Do you want to do an inquiry on that, then?

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I can't, because there's no address.

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Rench, Irene Rench, anyone got?

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Walker?

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Doreen Walker?

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Neil's keen to start research,

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and he's spotted a name he thinks has potential.

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We're going to have a little look at this estate of Doreen Ellen Walker.

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The advert's a little confusing,

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because it is Doreen Ellen Walker, formerly Howard, nee Walker,

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so it means her maiden name is Walker.

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It also says she's a single woman,

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which probably means she's a divorced lady.

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Doreen Walker died in March 2010 aged just 62.

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She had lived in Lewisham, in south-east London, for 10 years.

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Friend and local lay preacher Neil Hill has fond memories of her.

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My memories of Doreen were really very happy ones.

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She was good company and pleasant.

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Liked a good laugh, liked socialising.

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Doreen was a professional singer.

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She performed with a number of well-known choirs

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and her beautiful Contralto voice was captured in this BBC recording.

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OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

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Sue Sturrock studied with Doreen at the Royal College of Music.

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I will never forget Doreen, because she was a wonderfully vibrant,

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flamboyant character.

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OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

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I have to say that you would know whether Doreen was or was

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not at the singers' table the moment you stepped into the dining room,

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because she would be the centre of attention.

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She was funny, she was witty, she was nicely naughty,

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nicely disrespectful.

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But most of all, very amusing.

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# Panis angelicus. #

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Another singing friend, Judy Rees, shares similar memories.

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Everybody knew, everybody knew Doreen.

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All the orchestral players knew her, as well.

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She really was that sort of person, and everybody had a word,

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everybody had a laugh with Doreen.

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She really was a big personality.

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But after a successful career, Doreen suddenly gave up

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performing and began to live an increasingly reclusive life.

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She lived, I would have thought, almost an isolated...

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I don't think she went very far.

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She went occasionally, probably, to the bank, but I don't think

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she left the house very much at all, which is dreadfully sad.

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Having led an active and sociable life, Doreen sadly died alone.

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In central London,

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the Heir Hunters are keen to start the search for Doreen's heirs,

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but first they need to try and find out how much her estate is worth.

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Heir Hunters work on commission,

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so the value of the estate means the difference between profit and loss.

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Neil has an address for Doreen in Lewisham, and because it's a London suburb,

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house prices are likely to be high.

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But he needs to know if she rented her home or owned it.

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Hi.

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I've got a property which is freehold in SE13,

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but it's not available electronically.

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What do you reckon that means?

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They urgently need someone on the ground who can visit

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the property and make enquiries with the neighbours.

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I'm going to get Bob Smith to go there.

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Fingers crossed he can find something out.

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The company has a network of regional Heir Hunters

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spread across the country.

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Each one is on standby from 7am on a Thursday morning,

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and they can be called upon to make door-to-door enquiries,

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collect important certificates and visit potential heirs.

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Bob Smith is their South London man, so he's been told to hit the road

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to see if he can find out valuable information about Doreen.

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Today we are heading off to Lewisham.

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Our deceased, Doreen Walker, died in 2010.

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We'll be going along there, making inquiries with neighbours.

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Find out what they know about the deceased and her family.

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A property in South London is bound to have attracted

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interest from rival heir hunters, so Bob needs to get to Lewisham fast.

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But, frustratingly, he's hit rush hour.

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There is a two-mile traffic queue at the moment.

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We're about five miles away, but at this rate,

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it could be a long time before we get there.

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SAT NAV: 'Your destination is straight ahead.'

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Once the roads clear, Bob makes quick time

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and he arrives at Doreen's house to be greeted by a fairly grim sight.

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This one here.

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Unbelievable, isn't it?

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Incredible.

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The house is boarded up and completely overgrown.

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I'm making inquiries about the lady that used to live next door.

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I don't think there's anyone in here.

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Bob eventually speaks to a neighbour,

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and learns that Doreen did own the property.

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He gets straight on the phone to give Neil the news.

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Hello, Neil.

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I tell you what, it is a lovely house, Neil,

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but it is a little bit derelict.

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But it is in a lovely location, a little bit overgrown.

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Anyway, the neighbour had known her for the last 15 or 20 years.

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He said that she didn't have any children.

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She was a local lady, as far as he was aware.

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He didn't know if she was born elsewhere or anything.

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So the house itself isn't a council house?

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No, no, it looks like...

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He said she owned it. I asked him that, and he said, no, she owned it.

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Bob's also noticed a number for the company who boarded up the house.

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That notice on the corrugated iron on the front door...

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'Yeah.'

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..there's a telephone number.

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I don't know what sort of organisation they are.

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I can't get hold of any other neighbours. There's no-one answering.

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'No.'

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While Bob goes off to make further enquiries at the local church,

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back at the office,

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Neil's managed to find out more about Doreen's house,

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and he's been able to pinpoint exactly when she bought the property.

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Doreen owns the property, bought it in 2000.

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So it's definitely worth us pursuing it.

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It is a £250,000 estate.

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It's now all systems go for the Heir Hunters.

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Gareth, she definitely owns it,

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so pull some staff on to it, as well.

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With a £250,000 estate at stake,

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the team must follow up any clue that could lead them to heirs.

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Neil phones the company who boarded up Doreen's house.

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Good morning. I wonder if you could help me.

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I'm doing an inquiry about a property

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which I think your shutters are on.

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I'm basically trying to find out who's paying you for them

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or who asked you to put them up.

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Neil's wondering if they've been in touch with one of Doreen's relatives.

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That was put up because of the police.

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The police broke into the property on 4th March,

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which is exactly the same date of death that we have for Doreen,

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so obviously she was found dead.

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They broke in as part of a welfare inquiry,

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so, obviously, no-one has heard anything,

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and no sign of anything, so they went in there.

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The case has taken a sad turn. Doreen was found dead in her flat.

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Thank you. Bye-bye.

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Bob has now spoken to the vicar at the local church,

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and a picture of Doreen's later years is starting to emerge.

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Neil, hi, it's Bob. I actually spoke with the Reverend.

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She phoned someone that she thought might have known the deceased,

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and he did, he remembered her.

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Apparently, her husband was the church organist.

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But ten years ago, he just left a note to say that he was

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leaving her, and he went to South Africa.

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They're not sure whether there was actually a divorce.

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This information could be crucial for the team.

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If Doreen did not get divorced,

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her husband will be the sole heir to her estate.

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It seems the sudden end of her marriage in 2001 affected Doreen very deeply.

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She was devastated.

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I don't think the decline set in then,

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but I think it contributed to her, sort of, withdrawing from...

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well, socialising and meeting up with friends, etc.

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I rarely saw her over the last ten years.

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The state of the house was really quite shocking.

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No idea what the inside looked like. I was never going to be invited in.

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But outside, as I said before, completely overgrown.

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And it was like that while she was living there.

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It is just rather distressing.

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In the office, the search for Doreen's heirs is gathering pace.

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The team's first priority is to find out

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if she and her husband got divorced.

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Emily, are you doing probate?

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Yes.

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I've got a divorce for you to do.

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Are they the first years you want?

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We wanted 1995-2005.

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Yeah, but the first three years first, do you want?

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Emily will try and find records of a divorce,

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but the team can't afford to wait for the results.

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They start the search for any other living relatives.

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But first they need to find records for the right Doreen Walker,

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and they've found a possible birth for her in Yorkshire.

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We've got a date of birth, 23rd February, 1948.

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There's only one birth of a Doreen Ellen Walker,

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which was her maiden name.

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It's in Huddersfield, which is completely out of area.

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If this birth is right, Doreen was the only child of Eric

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and Doris Walker, and came from somewhere near Huddersfield.

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But the neighbours in Lewisham thought Doreen was from London,

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and the team are split.

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Where are you up to? Do you believe this Huddersfield birth?

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At the moment, yes.

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If we confirm this date of birth's correct, there is only one Doreen E.

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She looks like she's an only child.

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Coming up, the search for heirs goes nationwide.

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I'm now trying to move my guys up to South Yorkshire.

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And it turns out Doreen was no ordinary singer.

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She was one of the absolute stars.

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It was obviously considered that she had real potential.

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Most heir-hunting cases involve people who have

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died in the last 20 years.

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But the estate of 19th century nobleman Frederick West

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was a very different story.

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The search for his heirs would span six generations and unearth links

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with the Royal Family and a rather famous politician.

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Heir hunting firm Fraser and Fraser picked up the case after spotting

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an article in the paper, and partner Charles Fraser got straight to work.

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The article stated that they were looking for the beneficiaries

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of Frederick West, who was the donor,

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i.e., he gave land away for the purpose of a school.

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Frederick West lived at Ruthin Castle in Wales,

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and was a wealthy MP and landowner.

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In 1844 he had decided to donate a small piece of land

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so the local church could build a school.

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In the middle Victorian period, there was a great

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philanthropic process where they were trying to educate the masses.

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In order to do that, schools were being created.

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But thanks to the School Sites Act of 1841,

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Frederick West's gift to the Church came with a catch.

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If the school closed, then the land would go back to the original donor.

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I think it was a belt-and-braces approach to try

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and prevent people just giving land away for the school,

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the school closing immediately and then the land being sold off.

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This significant piece of small print was largely irrelevant

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until 2008, when the school that had been built on the land closed down.

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The plot was put up for sale,

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and, by law, the proceeds would have to go to heirs of Frederick West.

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The land originally given away would have been less than an acre

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to comply with the legislation,

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and it is hopefully being sold for somewhere in the region of £375,000.

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This meant it could be a very profitable case for the Heir Hunters.

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The team needed to find Frederick West's heirs,

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whoever and wherever they were.

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The first step was to find a copy of Frederick's will.

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The actual finding of the will isn't always the most difficult part.

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It's actually interpreting the will which can be very

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difficult to read, decipher, and then interpret.

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The will showed that Frederick West had left his entire estate

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to his daughter, Charlotte Louisa West.

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She in turn passed the estate down to her nephew, William,

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and nieces, Georgina and Florence.

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Both Georgina and Florence died without children,

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so the entire estate went to their brother.

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William Cornwallis-West was now a very wealthy man,

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and in 1872 he married flamboyant socialite Mary Fitzpatrick.

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They set up home in Ruthin Castle, and began hosting parties

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for their influential friends, who included the future King Edward VII.

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They were known for their high-class parties, if you like.

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And because Prince Edward Albert, the future Edward VII,

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used it as one of his secret haunts,

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he used to bring many of his lady friends here,

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including Lillie Langtry, the actress, Alice Keppel, many of his mistresses,

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who may well have included members of the West family themselves as well.

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Their parties were absolutely legendary.

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The future king of England, Edward VII,

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was one of many high society guests at Ruthin Castle.

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Fun-loving aristocrats travelled across the country to enjoy Mary and

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William's hospitality, which earned them the nickname the Wild Wests.

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Mary Cornwallis-West,

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her party trick was sliding down the huge banisters in the main hall

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on a tea-tray, which apparently Edward Albert loved.

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Hence the Wild West Show, the nickname that he gave them.

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In between the parties, William and Mary also raised a family.

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They had three children, Daisy, Constance and George,

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and they were next in line to inherit the West estate.

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But, surprisingly, George was written out of the will.

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George was the middle one. He was the boy.

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He had quite a hard life in his early days.

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But, eventually, of course, he started enjoying himself,

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and he really, really spent all their money.

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He squandered all the proceedings of the family.

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Having blown most of the family's fortune,

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the 17-year-old George then caused further scandal by embarking

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on affair with an American divorcee who was more than twice his age.

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He became involved with Jennie Churchill.

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This was reckoned to be scandalous, first of all because of the age gap,

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and the two families also had really broken down their friendship,

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and this, at the end of the day, did not go down well.

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What's more, Jennie had a son the same age as George, and her

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son was none other than the future Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

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Despite the controversy surrounding their relationship,

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George and Jennie married in 1895.

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Both families were very much against this,

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and he was sent off to the Boer War,

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where he met his future stepson, Winston.

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Still to come, George's connection with Winston Churchill

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comes in very handy for his family during the Second World War.

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I believe Churchill stepped in because of the family connection.

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And the search continues for living relatives of talented singer Doreen Walker.

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All we have got to play with on this case is one maternal aunt.

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So, things aren't looking terribly good.

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Heir Hunters solve thousands of cases a year,

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and millions of pounds are paid out to rightful heirs.

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But thousands of cases have foxed the Heir Hunters and remain unsolved.

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Could you be the heirs they've been searching for?

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Could you be in line to inherit a lump sum worth hundreds,

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thousands or even millions of pounds?

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Estates stay on the list for up to 30 years,

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and today we're focusing on three names.

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Are they relatives of yours?

0:20:500:20:52

Sandor Alex Kiss died in Chertsey, in Surrey

0:20:550:20:59

on 22nd February 2005, aged 68.

0:20:590:21:03

If heirs aren't found, his money will go to the Government.

0:21:030:21:06

Did you know Suk-Kung Lickman from Leicester? She died September 2009.

0:21:080:21:14

Suk-Kung's maiden name was Chong, so it's likely she was of Asian origin.

0:21:140:21:18

So far, no one's come forward to claim her estate.

0:21:180:21:22

Also on our list is Crystal Hephzibah Gardner,

0:21:230:21:27

who was from Marsham in Norfolk.

0:21:270:21:29

She died in 2008, aged 71.

0:21:290:21:32

While the surname Gardner is quite common, Hephzibah is Hebrew,

0:21:340:21:38

meaning "my delight is in her".

0:21:380:21:41

All efforts to trace her relatives have drawn a blank.

0:21:410:21:43

If the names Sandor Kiss, Suk-Kung Lickman

0:21:450:21:48

or Crystal Hephzibah Gardner mean anything to you, or someone

0:21:480:21:51

you know, you could have an unexpected windfall coming your way.

0:21:510:21:56

At the offices of Britain's largest heir hunting firm,

0:22:030:22:06

Fraser & Fraser, the team are racing to find heirs to

0:22:060:22:09

the estate of Doreen Walker, who died in Lewisham in 2010.

0:22:090:22:12

Gareth, she definitely owns it, so pull some staff onto it as well.

0:22:130:22:18

The case is worth an estimated £250,000,

0:22:180:22:22

but the team are struggling to make much progress.

0:22:220:22:26

They've only found one potential birth for Doreen,

0:22:260:22:28

and its 200 miles away, in Huddersfield.

0:22:280:22:32

Huddersfield to Lewisham is a hugely long way.

0:22:320:22:34

I don't particularly like that.

0:22:340:22:36

I think the birth's going to be in London somewhere.

0:22:360:22:38

Doreen died alone in her south London home in March 2010.

0:22:390:22:44

Having separated from her husband in 2001, it seemed she went

0:22:440:22:48

from being the life and soul of the party to a virtual recluse.

0:22:480:22:54

Doreen was very sociable, and amusing and liked a good laugh.

0:22:540:23:01

Went round to parties, liked mixing, all those sort of things.

0:23:030:23:07

This is why it was so sad about what happened, that she just withdrew.

0:23:070:23:11

But this was a far cry from Doreen's earlier years.

0:23:120:23:15

She had worked as a professional singer, and had sung at some of the

0:23:150:23:20

country's most prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall.

0:23:200:23:24

In 1966, she was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music,

0:23:240:23:27

a prize that was only awarded to those with exceptional talent.

0:23:270:23:32

Sue Sturrock was a fellow student.

0:23:320:23:35

To get into the Royal College in 1968 was probably one of the most

0:23:350:23:39

difficult things a singer could try to do, so to be offered

0:23:390:23:43

a place was a huge achievement, but as Doreen was given a full scholarship,

0:23:430:23:48

a full open scholarship, that was a real accolade.

0:23:480:23:52

She was one of the absolute stars.

0:23:520:23:54

Doreen graduated from the Royal College of Music in 1970,

0:23:540:23:59

and seemed destined for great things.

0:23:590:24:03

She had a lovely, warm, dark sound.

0:24:030:24:06

And it could have been a stunning voice.

0:24:090:24:13

She could have been a great singer, with her personality.

0:24:130:24:17

It just didn't work out as it should have done.

0:24:170:24:20

Her potential was not fulfilled.

0:24:200:24:24

Although she never became a full-blown solo performer,

0:24:240:24:28

Doreen carved out a successful career,

0:24:280:24:31

singing with the BBC orchestra, and choir London Voices.

0:24:310:24:37

Once she appeared in our lives, she was, I can only say,

0:24:370:24:41

the life and soul of the party.

0:24:410:24:44

She had a very broad Yorkshire dialect,

0:24:440:24:47

and she was always in the middle of all the fun.

0:24:470:24:53

She was a very, very great girl to know.

0:24:530:24:57

Back in the office, the team desperately need more

0:25:020:25:05

information if they are to have any chance of finding Doreen's heirs.

0:25:050:25:09

Case manager Tony Pledger has been given a number

0:25:090:25:12

for one of Doreen's closest friends.

0:25:120:25:14

Could this be the breakthrough they need?

0:25:140:25:17

I'm ringing you with regard to the late Doreen Walker.

0:25:170:25:20

She was married, but I understand that her husband upped and left her.

0:25:200:25:24

Yeah. Do you know when they divorced, at all?

0:25:260:25:28

Well, we assumed that he was dead, but...

0:25:280:25:31

Right, OK.

0:25:340:25:35

And it was definitely a village in Huddersfield-ish,

0:25:350:25:38

not Huddersfield town, so to speak?

0:25:380:25:39

Tony's confirmed Doreen's place of birth, and that she was divorced.

0:25:410:25:46

He told me that the deceased husband had returned to South Africa,

0:25:470:25:51

remarried and had died in South Africa.

0:25:510:25:54

He told me roughly when the divorce was,

0:25:540:25:56

a little bit of information about the parents, and confirmed

0:25:560:25:59

that the deceased was an only child, so it was a little bit of headway.

0:25:590:26:04

Armed with this new information,

0:26:050:26:07

the team can finally start building Doreen's family tree,

0:26:070:26:11

but Neil's still surprised about the Huddersfield birth.

0:26:110:26:14

The first rule is that the deceased is probably born near where they passed away,

0:26:150:26:19

unless it's the south coast,

0:26:190:26:20

but we still expect them to come from the south-east.

0:26:200:26:23

Today, obviously, rule one has been broken,

0:26:230:26:27

which means that I'm now trying to move all my guys back up

0:26:270:26:30

to South Yorkshire.

0:26:300:26:31

Neil has sent one of his northern-based travelling

0:26:310:26:35

researchers to pick up Doreen's birth certificate.

0:26:350:26:39

Here you go.

0:26:390:26:40

And in the meantime, the team in the office are building a family tree

0:26:400:26:44

from information they found online.

0:26:440:26:46

This sheet's getting a bit crowded.

0:26:470:26:49

Yeah, I know. That's why I started a new one.

0:26:490:26:51

"Ben, Charles." What we look at there?

0:26:510:26:54

They soon build a picture of Doreen's family.

0:26:540:26:58

Her parents were Eric Walker and Doris Charlesworth.

0:26:580:27:02

Doreen was an only child, and so was her father, Eric,

0:27:020:27:05

which mean all eyes are on Doreen's mother, Doris.

0:27:050:27:08

Her parents were Ben and Ellen Charlesworth, and the team

0:27:090:27:12

are hoping they had other children who may lead them to heirs.

0:27:120:27:16

The family on the Charlesworth side come from a small village

0:27:170:27:21

called Honley, near Huddersfield.

0:27:210:27:23

We know that Ben, the grandfather deceased on the Charlesworth

0:27:230:27:27

side, was certainly living in that village in 1911,

0:27:270:27:31

and then when he died, he was still living there, so there's

0:27:310:27:34

a potential chance that some family are still living in the village.

0:27:340:27:37

These are simply some telephone numbers of Charlesworths

0:27:370:27:40

living in that village.

0:27:400:27:41

There may be Charlesworths living in the right village,

0:27:410:27:44

but are they the same family?

0:27:440:27:46

If they are, they could be Doreen's cousins,

0:27:460:27:50

and heirs to her £250,000 estate.

0:27:500:27:54

Hello, sorry to trouble you. My name's Tony Pledger.

0:27:540:27:56

We specialise in tracing missing heirs,

0:27:560:27:59

and we were researching into the family of somebody who died recently in London,

0:27:590:28:02

who was born in the village of Honley,

0:28:020:28:05

and basically, their mother was a Doris Charlesworth.

0:28:050:28:09

So, if there's nobody in your Charlesworth family that's

0:28:100:28:14

ever heard of a Doris Charlesworth who married an Eric Walker,

0:28:140:28:17

then I'm sorry to have troubled you.

0:28:170:28:19

OK, then.

0:28:190:28:20

No, that's OK. Thanks ever so. Thanks, bye.

0:28:200:28:22

Tony speaks to all the Charlesworths he can,

0:28:260:28:28

and not a single one of them has heard of Doreen's mother, Doris.

0:28:280:28:32

So, things aren't looking terribly good.

0:28:330:28:36

As Doreen had no children herself, the team are running out of options.

0:28:370:28:42

Then, the researchers make a breakthrough.

0:28:440:28:46

They find that Doris had a sister called Annie,

0:28:480:28:50

who is Doreen's paternal aunt.

0:28:500:28:52

If Annie had children,

0:28:520:28:54

they'll be the cousins the team have been searching for.

0:28:540:28:56

But Gareth is doubtful.

0:28:570:28:59

All we've got to play with on this case is one maternal aunt who,

0:28:590:29:03

unfortunately, from our point of view, she did get married,

0:29:030:29:08

but she didn't have any children that we know of at the moment,

0:29:080:29:11

so our last hope is that maybe she adopted a child.

0:29:110:29:14

We are waiting for a probate to come back.

0:29:160:29:18

When that comes back, that should tell us.

0:29:180:29:21

But no heirs as yet.

0:29:210:29:24

It doesn't look like Annie had children.

0:29:240:29:27

But Gareth's refusing to give up.

0:29:270:29:30

He's asked for a copy of Annie's will, to see if it mentions

0:29:310:29:34

any children or other relatives that the team haven't found.

0:29:340:29:38

We've just seen the will of Annie Oldham,

0:29:400:29:42

who, in her will, she's mentioned the deceased,

0:29:420:29:45

so we know it's definitely the right family,

0:29:450:29:47

but she's also mentioned an Anne, who she's described as a niece.

0:29:470:29:51

We need to work out where she fits in.

0:29:510:29:53

This could be the last roll of the dice.

0:29:540:29:56

Is Anne the daughter of an aunt or uncle they don't know about,

0:29:580:30:02

and the last remaining blood relative of Doreen Walker?

0:30:020:30:05

She, as I said, describes her niece as Anne.

0:30:050:30:08

Her parents, no matter what we do, they're always going to come from him.

0:30:090:30:13

It's a disaster for the team.

0:30:130:30:16

Anne is a niece through Annie's husband.

0:30:160:30:18

She's no relation to Doreen, and cannot inherit her estate.

0:30:180:30:23

The team have exhausted every avenue of research, and must admit defeat.

0:30:230:30:28

Unfortunately, it looks as though we're not really going to be

0:30:280:30:32

able to make much progress on this estate.

0:30:320:30:35

Not through lack of trying, I don't think, but really through lack

0:30:350:30:39

of family, as from what we found, the father was an only child, the

0:30:390:30:44

mother had a single sister who got married, but it doesn't look like

0:30:440:30:48

they had any children, so as far as we're concerned, it's a dead case.

0:30:480:30:53

It's a case with no living beneficiaries on it.

0:30:530:30:56

Obviously, if this case came from Scotland,

0:30:560:30:58

we could have gone a generation further

0:30:580:31:00

back before we came down and found beneficiaries, but we can't.

0:31:000:31:03

It's an English estate,

0:31:030:31:05

so it's money which is going to the Treasury.

0:31:050:31:07

Doreen may not have any heirs, but her larger-than-life

0:31:090:31:12

personality and remarkable voice have left a lasting legacy.

0:31:120:31:17

I think she'd want us all to remember the very best of her singing,

0:31:170:31:21

and the very best of her performances, and the happy

0:31:210:31:23

memories that her friends have, and those of us who remember her from

0:31:230:31:27

more of a distance have of her as such a vibrant

0:31:270:31:32

and huge human being.

0:31:320:31:35

As the team's drawn a blank, it seems unlikely anyone will

0:31:350:31:39

ever come forward to claim Doreen's estate, estimated at £250,000,

0:31:390:31:45

and if it's not claimed by 2040, the money will go to the government.

0:31:450:31:49

In 2008, Heir Hunter Charles Fraser began the search for heirs to

0:31:540:31:58

a former school site worth an estimated £375,000.

0:31:580:32:04

The school was to be demolished, and an 1841 law meant the land it

0:32:040:32:09

was built on had to be returned to the family of its original owner,

0:32:090:32:13

19th century nobleman, Frederick West.

0:32:130:32:16

By tracing his descendants, the Heir Hunters had already uncovered

0:32:170:32:21

a story of extraordinary wealth and royal connections.

0:32:210:32:24

These types of cases are often very exciting.

0:32:240:32:27

The families that we are dealing with are often quite

0:32:270:32:29

different to the ordinary intestacy cases.

0:32:290:32:32

Frederick's great-great-grandson, George Cornwallis West,

0:32:330:32:36

had caused a scandal and been written out of the family will,

0:32:360:32:40

so the heir hunters were now focused on his two sisters,

0:32:400:32:43

Constance and Daisy.

0:32:430:32:45

Mary leaves her estate to her two daughters,

0:32:470:32:51

she leaves her property in Cannes to her daughter, Constance,

0:32:510:32:55

in order that she may have a residence near to her sister,

0:32:550:32:59

Mary Teresa Olivia, Princess of Pless.

0:32:590:33:02

So, at that stage, we knew that not only had one daughter married

0:33:020:33:05

very well, into the Westminster family,

0:33:050:33:08

the other daughter had also married into royalty of some sort.

0:33:080:33:12

It was obvious that we were now dealing with quite wealthy families,

0:33:120:33:15

of, certainly, upper and higher class in British society,

0:33:150:33:20

and indeed, German nobility and royalty, so it was all very exciting.

0:33:200:33:26

We didn't know where we were going to end up.

0:33:260:33:28

First they turned to Daisy, and her story was yet another

0:33:290:33:33

remarkable chapter in the West family history.

0:33:330:33:36

We didn't know much about her initially, so we had to do quite

0:33:360:33:40

a lot of research to establish who she was and what happened to her,

0:33:400:33:43

and the story of her life was actually quite fascinating, but tragic.

0:33:430:33:49

Because Daisy's brother, George, had squandered the family fortune,

0:33:500:33:54

her mother, Mary, also known as Patsy,

0:33:540:33:57

was keen to find a wealthy suitor, and who better than a German prince?

0:33:570:34:01

Patsy wanted to make sure that her daughter married well, and she

0:34:030:34:07

was on the lookout on the continent,

0:34:070:34:09

and the Prince of Pless came along,

0:34:090:34:12

and she decided he would be the one, and he was not really, really very

0:34:120:34:16

pleased with this, because he came to London to meet another young lady,

0:34:160:34:19

who, in fact, he lost, but at the end of the day, he did marry Daisy.

0:34:190:34:26

The newlyweds moved to the enormous Furstenstein Castle

0:34:280:34:31

in the Prussian town of Pless.

0:34:310:34:34

The castle looked like the setting of a fairytale,

0:34:340:34:37

but Daisy and the Prince of Pless had married for convenience,

0:34:370:34:41

and there was no happy ending.

0:34:410:34:43

As far as their marriage was concerned,

0:34:440:34:47

neither Daisy or the Prince of Pless really, really wanted to be together,

0:34:470:34:51

and it was really forced on them, but friends and family

0:34:510:34:55

and the Royal family did in fact try to help it out.

0:34:550:34:59

They gradually got to know each other a bit better.

0:34:590:35:03

Things got worse when the Pless family fell on hard times.

0:35:030:35:07

Daisy moved from the castle to the gatehouse,

0:35:070:35:09

and the couple eventually divorced.

0:35:090:35:13

Daisy, the Princess of Pless, died in 1943.

0:35:130:35:19

The Pless family money went, because of the way the governments

0:35:190:35:25

of both Poland and Germany took over the companies after the war.

0:35:250:35:31

The money went, the money went, she became ill, and by that time

0:35:310:35:37

there was no money left to look after her, and she depended on friends.

0:35:370:35:40

Unfortunately, she developed MS, and that really,

0:35:400:35:44

really brought on a slow, slow death to her.

0:35:440:35:48

In London, the Heir Hunters were trying to find the rightful

0:35:480:35:52

beneficiaries of a peace of land, donated to make a school

0:35:520:35:55

by Daisy's great-grandfather, Frederick West.

0:35:550:35:58

Charles's next move was to see if Daisy had left a will.

0:35:580:36:02

Finding the will for the Princess was difficult

0:36:020:36:05

for a whole host of reasons.

0:36:050:36:08

There was obviously the boundary changes, going from Germany and Poland,

0:36:080:36:13

and also the fact that she died in poverty.

0:36:130:36:19

It was actually so difficult,

0:36:190:36:20

we haven't actually been able to trace any will for her at all.

0:36:200:36:23

This meant looking for Daisy's blood relatives,

0:36:230:36:27

and they quickly learnt that Daisy and the Prince of Pless had

0:36:270:36:30

had three sons, Hansel, Alexander and Bolko.

0:36:300:36:34

The oldest, Hansel, who was also known as Henry, had died,

0:36:350:36:39

but in his will, the only beneficiary was an ex-wife who was still alive.

0:36:390:36:44

The team had found their first heir through a long line of inheritance.

0:36:450:36:50

He left the entirety of his estate to his ex-wife, Lady Ashtown.

0:36:500:36:54

In relation to the original donor, the Honourable Frederick West,

0:36:540:36:58

Lady Ashtown has no blood relationship at all.

0:36:580:37:02

She's the ex-wife of a very distant relative of his.

0:37:020:37:07

Lady Ashtown lives in London, and was stunned to hear she was in line

0:37:090:37:13

to inherit from her ex-husband's great-great-grandfather.

0:37:130:37:18

I mean, I knew there was a lot of land,

0:37:180:37:20

or had been a lot of land in Wales, but I didn't know much about it.

0:37:200:37:25

We never talked about it.

0:37:250:37:27

So I didn't really expect it to come back, as it were.

0:37:290:37:32

Funny how things happen so many years later, isn't it?

0:37:330:37:38

Although Lady Ashtown and Henry Pless divorced,

0:37:380:37:41

they remained on good terms.

0:37:410:37:43

He was one of the kindest people I've ever known.

0:37:440:37:47

I never, in 30 plus years,

0:37:470:37:52

I never saw him irritated or badtempered.

0:37:520:37:55

What more can I say? He was a saint, I think.

0:37:560:38:00

Henry had come to England from Prussia in the 1930s,

0:38:000:38:04

but when war broke out, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

0:38:040:38:09

Because he was German, although he was living in England

0:38:090:38:13

and had English relations,

0:38:130:38:16

like the Duke of Westminster was his uncle,

0:38:160:38:19

he was popped into Brixton Prison,

0:38:190:38:23

and there they kept him for, I think it was nearly three years.

0:38:230:38:29

And then, one day, the Prison Governor came and said,

0:38:290:38:33

"I am so sorry.

0:38:330:38:35

"This has been a frightful mistake. You should never have been here.

0:38:350:38:38

"You must leave as soon as possible."

0:38:380:38:40

It seems that Henry was released from prison because Winston Churchill

0:38:400:38:45

was the stepson of George Cornwallis-West, Henry's uncle.

0:38:450:38:48

I believe Churchill stepped in because of the family connection.

0:38:480:38:53

He had tried other ways, but eventually, he asked a question in Parliament.

0:38:530:39:00

Soon afterwards, Hansel was released.

0:39:000:39:04

For Charles and his team, the search for heirs to a £375,000

0:39:060:39:10

plot of land was starting to come good.

0:39:100:39:13

They'd found that another of Daisy's sons, Bolko,

0:39:140:39:17

had three children who were also heirs.

0:39:170:39:21

They now turn their attention to Daisy's sister, Constance,

0:39:210:39:24

the Duchess of Westminster.

0:39:240:39:26

Would her branch of the family lead to even more heirs?

0:39:260:39:30

Initially, I found it quite surprising that she'd left her

0:39:300:39:34

estate to her companion, and not to any of her children,

0:39:340:39:38

which, in 1970, amounted to just under £30,000.

0:39:380:39:41

Quite a lot of money at the time.

0:39:410:39:43

The beneficiary named in Constance's will was Nora Gillespie,

0:39:440:39:48

and she had worked for the Duchess for over 40 years.

0:39:480:39:51

Nora's godson, Peter Sykes, has letters from the Duchess which date

0:39:530:39:56

back to 1928, when she was looking for someone to manage her estate.

0:39:560:40:01

"Dear Miss Wills," and this is July 4th, 1928.

0:40:030:40:07

"Dear Miss Wills. I'm writing to ask you to do me a favour.

0:40:070:40:10

"If by chance you hear of a nice Lady," with a capital L,

0:40:100:40:14

"who wants a comfortable home and is a really capable Manager,

0:40:140:40:18

"do let me know as I'm looking out for one to entirely run this house for me.

0:40:180:40:23

"Someone about 28 or 30, but she must be a Lady.

0:40:230:40:28

"Also, she must have had some experience of the Type,"

0:40:280:40:31

with a capital T, "of work required."

0:40:310:40:34

At just 22 years of age,

0:40:340:40:37

Nora Gillespie wasn't the ideal candidate.

0:40:370:40:41

The Duchess was very doubtful that such a young person could

0:40:410:40:46

rule the household in the way that she wanted,

0:40:460:40:50

but evidently she convinced her, and in 1928, she took the job

0:40:500:40:56

and was there until the Duchess died in 1970.

0:40:560:41:00

Constance rewarded Nora's loyalty by naming her as the sole

0:41:020:41:06

beneficiary to her estate.

0:41:060:41:09

Nora died 22 years later, in 1992, and she left half of her estate,

0:41:090:41:13

which had come from the West family, to her godson, Peter.

0:41:130:41:17

It sort of started me delving back into the history

0:41:190:41:26

and discovering, if you like, the Cornwallis-Wests of Ruthin,

0:41:260:41:30

and some of it has been quite fascinating.

0:41:300:41:33

The parties they used to go to,

0:41:340:41:38

yes, and also the Plesses.

0:41:380:41:42

Princess Daisy, from what I've read since, can make the eyes water, really.

0:41:420:41:49

Although Peter had no blood link to the West family, he was now an heir

0:41:490:41:53

to a piece of land donated in 1844, and now worth an estimated £375,000.

0:41:530:41:59

How do I feel about inheriting from this family which isn't my family?

0:42:020:42:07

I feel quite pleased, actually!

0:42:080:42:10

After an epic heir hunt that has spanned six generations,

0:42:100:42:15

Charles Fraser is pleased to be able to wrap up a truly remarkable case.

0:42:150:42:21

We've established that the majority of the heirs aren't blood relatives,

0:42:210:42:24

and we've also gained a delightful insight into some of these families,

0:42:240:42:29

some of these quite wealthy families, and how they lead their lives.

0:42:290:42:34

Some of the details in their wills just don't appear in ordinary people's wills.

0:42:340:42:40

Fraser and Fraser managed to trace nine heirs who will all

0:42:410:42:44

share in the six-figure proceeds from the sale of the school.

0:42:440:42:48

If you would like advice about building your family tree or

0:42:490:42:53

making a will, go to:

0:42:530:42:57

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