Wright/Soberg Heir Hunters

Today, the Heir Hunters are looking into an estate

worth a possible £200,000.

Did you know the gentleman that lived there?

Somewhere out there are some long-lost relatives

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

Could the Heir Hunters be knocking at your door?

On today's show,

it's a confusing start with a case of double identity.

Strangely, there are two Ernest G Wrights,

both living on Canvey Island.

And the team uncover the emotional story of the Cold War submariner

and the desperate efforts to find him.

We both ended up in floods of tears. It was quite incredible.

Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit an unclaimed estate

held by the Treasury.

Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?

Every year in the UK,

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

If no relatives are found,

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

Last year, they made £14 million from unclaimed estates.

That's where the Heir Hunters come in.

They make it their business to track down missing relatives

and help them claim their rightful inheritance.

The whole thing is a jigsaw with great rewards.

It's 7am at the offices of heir-hunting company Fraser & Fraser

and the work's already started.

The Treasury's list of people who have died without a will

has just been released and the team are checking through it.

We've got a nice short list today,

so there are probably about four cases we will have a look at.

Hopefully, from there,

we'll work out which ones have some value and concentrate on those first.

If someone dies without leaving a will with no known next of kin

and their estate is worth £5,000 or more, it will appear on this list.

Partner Charles likes the look of one particular case in Essex.

We're looking at the case of Ernest George Wright this morning.

He died in October 2010.

Obviously, we need to work out

whether there is any value of the estate,

otherwise we spend time looking for family,

only to find there is no money at the end of the day

and so we don't even cover our costs.

The company earn their money by taking a percentage

of the estate's final value.

The team need to establish quickly where the deceased lived.

If he owned his property, they know the estate will be worth money.

Ernest George Wright died on October 2nd 2010 in Essex.

He was 85 years old.

He lived in the small, seaside community of Canvey Island.

It was here he became friends with neighbour Cathy Thompson.

But she admits he wasn't the easiest person to get to know.

When we first moved down here, he used to come out and cut his grass

and never say anything to anybody.

He wouldn't talk to anybody. The neighbours walked past,

he wouldn't say hello.

I made a point of saying good morning to him once.

He went, "Morning."

Then carried on what he was doing.

He had nobody to talk to.

He didn't have any family come there to see him.

He preferred his own company.

He said, "Been like that for a long time, girl."

He said, "Too late to change now."

I said to him, "Rubbish, Ernie, you need company,

"you need people to talk to."

Nobody should go through life on their own.

As they became friends, Cathy found out more about his life.

He used to build cupboards everywhere.

You go in his house and it would be full of cupboards.

I would say, "Who built these?"

"I did," he said. That's what he used to do.

He's a carpenter. And worked for the council.

And do other odd jobs, that's what he told me.

In the office,

they've found an address where they believe Ernest last lived.

Now they need on-the-road Heir Hunter Dave Hadley to check it out.

Morning, Dave, um, Canvey Island,

fancy a trip down there?

While most of the research is done by the office team,

they rely on the front-line investigators like Dave

to follow their leads, find the heirs and sign them up before the competition.

Hi, we're trying to trace the relatives of the guy that used to live at number 21.

We've got a possible address where he was living

prior to his death on Canvey Island in Essex.

So I'm going to make my way there via the Dartford Tunnel.

It's a last-known address that the guys in the office have come up with.

It looks like it's probably going to be either sheltered accommodation,

or an old people's home.

It's crucial to discover if Ernest owned his own home.

If so, this could be a valuable estate.

It's Dave's job to find out.

The on-site manager has a record of Ernest Wright living here,

but Dave needs to dig a bit deeper.

It's a little bit confusing at the moment.

I've confirmed that Mr Wright did live here with his wife, er, Lesley Wright.

Um, but they've got no record in the office of him passing away.

They've got a next of kin, which looks like a daughter,

with a telephone number.

As far as they were concerned, the place is still occupied.

So, basically, I'm going to go knock on the door.

I'm going to knock on the door and see what the situation is.

If there's somebody living there, see if they're related

and see what the score is in relation to this.

Dave's taken to the address by the site managers.

And there's a fishing lake, is that right?

Is it just coarse fish?

-Or do they stock it with trout, or things like that?

-No.

Just coarse fish.

It doesn't look empty to me.

Dave's hoping to find some of Ernest Wright's relatives at home.

Right.

Can I just confirm your name?

There's someone at home.

And, unbelievably, he says his name is Ernest George Wright.

Right.

HE LAUGHS

Well, you're very much alive, aren't you?

Um, Ernest George Wright?

OK.

Um, well I'm a bit confused, then.

It's a bit of a surprise.

Dave's found Ernest G Wright, all right,

but, far from being dead, he's answered the door.

Back at the office, case manager David Milchard,

known as Grimble, admits it was a coincidence.

Strangely, there are two Ernest G Wrights, both living on Canvey Island.

Um, Canvey Island,

not that big a place,

and to get two people with exactly the same name,

um, confused it a bit.

So, obviously, the one on the caravan site is not our one,

because he's very much alive!

-HE CHUCKLES

-To Dave Hadley's horror,

he spoke to the deceased, as it were!

So their first lead was a dead end, or, in this case,

very much a living one.

But now the team have found an address for the other Ernest G Wright.

We've got the address now. It's not that address.

We've got a different address in Canvey Island.

Er, which we think he owned his own property,

so it's important this one.

If it's the right one this time, and Ernest did own his own house,

there could be serious money involved.

They need to move fast to keep ahead of any competing heir hunters.

Just hope the competition don't decide to muscle in on this.

We haven't seen any sign of them yet,

but, it doesn't mean to say they're not going to do it.

Having wasted time on the wrong Mr Wright, Dave's keen to catch up.

It turns out there is a second Ernest George Wright,

who also lived on Canvey Island, that passed away last year,

and we've got a possible address for him.

So I'm making my way there now to see what I can find out about him.

While Dave hurries to the address, researchers back in the office

try to find Ernest's birth certificate.

With a common name like Wright, it could take some time,

but only by finding out who his parents are can they begin to hunt for heirs.

We're a bit stuck at the moment,

because we don't know how old he is and there is a list

of ten or so Ernest G Wright birth records,

so we don't know which is the right one yet.

Got one West Ham, 1923, he died 1991.

So that leaves that guy.

The one in Romford, in D16, died in '87.

Back in Canvey Island, Dave checks with a neighbour

to see if they have the right address this time.

-Was it Ernest who lived over there?

-Yes, Ernest Wright, yes.

-OK.

-Did he live on his own?

-Yeah, yeah.

Any idea how old Ernest was?

He was 85.

So it looks like they've found where the right Ernest Wright lived this time

and Dave's information ties up with the research in the office.

We've just found a birth of a deceased on June, 1925, in Holborn.

Mother's maiden name is Matthewman,

which is quite an uncommon maiden name.

So his mother's unusual maiden name means they quickly find

the marriage certificate for Mary Matthewman and Ernest Wright,

married in 1919 in Mile End, East London.

There is no other marriage of a male Wright

marrying a female Matthewman anywhere in the country.

They're making good progress. But, to find out if there's big money in the estate,

the team still need to know if Ernest owned his own property.

Dave's on the case.

-And did he own that house?

-Yes.

-And lived there for many years, presumably?

-Yes.

It's great news.

The team's hunch is confirmed.

Ernest definitely owned his bungalow

and it could be worth up to £150,000.

-This one is the important case.

-Which one's that?

-Wright.

This is the only one that we know has got value.

Now they know there's real worth to the estate

and the chase is on to find the heirs.

-Do you know whether he was married or...?

-No, not married.

You say he was never married. You know that for sure, do you?

-Yeah, never married.

-Always a single guy, no children?

-No.

Dave's done a brilliant job

and gathered vital information for the team back in the office.

He's found out that Ernest never had a family of his own

who would've inherited his money.

So now the researchers focus on the siblings.

They quickly discover that Ernest had four sisters -

Emily, Irene, Victoria and Gladys.

As the closest blood relatives,

they are the rightful heirs to Ernest's estate.

Coming up, the pressure's on to find Ernest's four sisters.

-Irene's born March 21. Are you doing that?

-Yeah.

If any of them are still alive,

they will share an estate worth at least £150,000.

Every now and then, a case turns up that has a lasting effect

on even the most experienced heir hunter.

When Saul Marks, at Celtic Research,

came across the estate of Howard Soberg,

he was about to uncover a story of bravery, excitement

and heartbreak.

Howard Martin Soberg died without a will

in Bradford on 7th July 2009.

He was 64 and he left behind an estate worth £9,000.

It was the name Soberg that caught Saul's eye

and led him to start the investigation.

This name first came to my attention on the weekly release list,

because the surname ends in "berg"

and that's a very common ending to Jewish surnames.

I specialise in Jewish cases,

so I immediately wondered whether it was a Jewish case.

I did a little bit more investigation on it

and I found that his father's name was Tormod.

That really made me think this is probably Scandinavian.

The name Soberg is very rare in Britain,

which helped speed up Saul's research.

There were only, literally, a handful of Sobergs

and it seems they were all related to each other.

Saul discovered that Howard's father was from Norway.

He moved to England and married Miriam Martin, in Leeds, in 1943.

They had two children - Howard and a daughter.

Next, he checked records to see

if Howard had a wife or children himself.

I established that the deceased had actually been married twice

and that he'd had a daughter by his first wife

and her name was Victoria.

Um, I couldn't find any listings for the wife or the daughter.

Saul discovered that Howard had been divorced twice.

His ex-wives were not entitled to his money,

but if his daughter Victoria was still alive, or had children,

they would be the beneficiaries of his estate.

If not, his only hope of finding an heir would be through Howard's sister.

She died in 2005.

But if she had any children,

they would be next in line to inherit.

A good trick I find, with unusual names, whether it's a surname,

or a name combination, is to throw it into Google and see what happens.

Saul's research led him to a submariners' website,

where he discovered Howard had gone to sea in 1963 at just 18 years old.

He had played a vital role as a radar plotter

in one of the most important periods of naval history.

-SERVICEMEN:

-The main gate open, sir.

-Roger. Diving now, diving now.

Early in his career, he served on board the warship HMS Plymouth,

alongside Paul Hartley, who remembers Howard,

or Harry, as he knew him, very well.

Harry and I were both able seaman.

We spent the whole two years on there going all the way all over the place,

like the Med and the Far East.

Up to Hong Kong. HE LAUGHS

It was a good commission and it was a good ship.

We were both in the same mess, so...that's the living quarters,

so we just became friends.

We were best oppos as we called it in the Navy.

You know, I had other oppos, but he was like your best oppo.

It's like friends, you've got a best friend you can tell anything to

and that's how it was with us.

He had a good sense of humour.

And, he wouldn't let you down, sort of, you could rely on him

and, yes, he was an all-round good ant. He was.

Sadly, Paul lost touch with Howard when they both joined new ships.

I never saw Harry again.

In fact, most of the people I was in the Navy with I never saw again.

It's not like, I suppose, being in the Army,

where you are in the same battalion the whole time and you get to know everybody.

It was just ships that pass in the night, literally.

In the years that followed, Howard became a submariner

and played a vital role in the Cold War.

The Cuban Missile Crisis had brought the world closer to nuclear conflict

than ever before.

US intelligence picked up on a suspicious increase

in shipping traffic between Russia and Cuba.

-NEWSREEL:

-Is a breakneck Soviet build-up of personnel and military equipment under way?

A bland Khrushchev denies supplying offensive weapons to Cuba.

His foreign minister, Andre Gromyko,

tells President Kennedy that the Soviet government

would never become involved in rendering such assistance.

Spy planes located nuclear weapons stockpiled on the island,

just 90 miles off the coast of America.

It shall be the policy of this nation

to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba

against any nation in the Western Hemisphere

as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States.

In the tense years that followed,

Howard served as a radar plotter

on board the nuclear submarine HMS Courageous,

now open to the public as a museum.

Former colleague Michael Pitkeathly remembers working with him.

And it was from this room that they tracked the enemy's every move.

Our principal function was to gather in the sonar information and plot it.

You would plot the range and get a feel for what the target was doing.

-Chapel, 320.

-320.

Harry was an exceptional operator, much better than me,

and he would bowl out a solution relatively quickly.

He always sort of had the knack.

Where I really had to work at it,

he seemed to come in here, "Oh, it's obviously doing that."

HE LAUGHS Very annoying!

On here, he was very, very neat and pedantic with his plotting.

So, yeah, Harry was a good member of the team to have.

The work that Courageous was doing during the Cold War was critical

in that we were gaining intelligence

on what the Soviets were doing and their expanding fleet at the time.

As a submariner, Howard spent months at a time underwater

and had no contact with anyone, not even his family.

A lot of people just blanked it out,

because there is nothing you can do about it, absolutely nothing.

And there is a busy, busy environment working,

so your whole focus on life is getting the job done.

"A nuclear submarine is an undersea home."

"It stays submerged for a couple of months at a time.

"That's the real difference for the crew.

"The word 'submarine' now means what it says."

And Howard, and the crew of Courageous,

known as a hunter-killer sub, were always on alert.

I remember once

we were about to conduct an underwater look on a Soviet.

Now, an underwater look is where you creep up on to the Soviets,

get underneath, so that your periscopes can see all his hull fittings.

So you've got to be very, very close to these possible hostile units.

And I remember that we were under this unit

and, all of a sudden, we heard three very loud bangs, very close to us.

They'd obviously sussed we were out underneath

and done the gentlemanly thing and thrown three grenades over the side

just to let us know that they knew we were down there.

So we hoiked away fairly rapidly.

It was Howard's naval career

that led Saul to make a remarkable discovery.

There was a forum in which this lady named Victoria was actually searching for her father

and this was an absolute goldmine.

It was an exciting breakthrough.

Was this really Howard's daughter, the sole heir to his £9,000 estate?

And would Saul be able to find her?

Coming up, the heir hunt turns emotional.

I think this is the only case,

certainly to date, where I found myself in tears.

Heir hunters solve thousands of cases a year

and millions of pounds are paid out to rightful heirs.

But not every case can be cracked.

The Treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates that have baffled heir hunters and remain unsolved.

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

Could you be in line for a windfall worth hundreds,

thousands, or even millions of pounds?

Estates stay on the list for up to 30 years and, today,

we're focusing on three names.

Are they relatives of yours?

Roman Augustyn Hachulski died in December 2000 in Leicester.

Hachulski is most commonly a Polish surname.

Does that name mean anything to you?

Semek Binti Smith died in Bristol in 1997.

Smith is the most common surname in the UK,

but Semek is a very rare first name.

Do you have a Semek in your family?

Kathleen Mary Waddon died in Taunton, Somerset, in May 2007.

By far the highest concentration of the surname is in Somerset.

Were you a friend or neighbour of Kathleen?

If no heirs are found, her money will go to the Government.

If the names Roman Hachulski, Semek Smith or Kathleen Waddon

mean anything to you or someone you know,

you could have a fortune coming your way.

Heir hunters Fraser & Fraser are investigating the case of Ernest George Wright.

He died in Essex, in October 2010, without leaving a will.

The investigation got off to a shaky start...

Ernest George Wright? OK.

..when on-the-road researcher Dave came face to face with a man he thought was dead.

Um... Well, I'm a bit confused, then.

But they were soon back on track.

Right, we've got the address. It's not that address,

we've got a different address in Canvey Island.

They have discovered that he owned his bungalow,

which could be worth up to £150,000. This could be a valuable estate.

The team have been researching Ernest's family tree.

They have established that his parents, Ernest Wright and Mary Matthewman,

were married in 1919, and that he had four sisters.

Ernest was a bachelor all his life and did not have children.

As his parents had passed away, his sisters were the next heirs in line.

But, sadly, the team have found that not one of them is still alive.

Emily's marriage certificate, however, led them to a daughter.

They found Ernest's first living heir and Grimble has spoken to her.

Apparently, there was a lot of contact with the deceased

up until about four years ago.

It seems he wrote to them,

got a bit uptight and said he didn't want to know the family any more.

To me, that strikes of somebody getting old and getting a bit funny.

So that seems to be the sole reason this has become a case.

Basically, old age has crept in

and the poor guy didn't want to know the rest of the family.

But along with the sad story of how Ernest lost touch with his relatives,

Grimble has some more positive news about his estate.

We learned from the niece that he was a bit funny with banks.

He didn't like putting money in the bank.

So, the age-old thing, he stacked money all over the house, particularly the loft.

Well, the house has been empty for two years.

-HE CHUCKLES

-Hopefully it's still there.

Even into his 80s, Ernest was an active and independent character.

His neighbour Cathy remembers how he used to cycle to the supermarket.

Every week, he'd go down to the shops and come back laden

and I often wondered how he pushed the bike along, let alone ride it.

He didn't look physically strong, but he must've been.

He was always up and down ladders and doing things around the house.

But, then, Ernest was taken ill and Cathy raised the alarm.

I was calling through the letterbox, "Ernie, Ernie, it's me."

"It's Cathy. open up the door, Ernie."

"It's Cathy, open up the door."

Oh, about ten minutes.

And I couldn't get any answer and I got worried, so I phoned the police.

And they came down and they went into the back,

broke open the back door, and they found him lying on the floor.

I'm not sure whether it was the passage or the front room.

They called the doctor and an ambulance

and they took him to Southend Hospital.

Ernest never returned to his bungalow

and was moved to a series of residential care homes.

But he remained friends with Cathy and she often went to visit him.

All of a sudden, he'd got people to talk to and he was a changed...

He was changed. He'd sort of...

I mean, he was laughing with us.

There's me telling my sister he's a bit quiet and a bit shy

and, all of a sudden, he was joking around with us.

My sister said, "He's a bit of a gay old boy!"

I said, "No, not normally. He must've changed since he came here!"

So he introduced us to this woman. He said, "This is my girlfriend."

It made me feel good that, at last,

he'd got somebody to talk to him.

Because he shouldn't be on his own.

And for the team hunting Ernest's heirs,

things are looking positive, too.

His niece has told them of two more heirs -

another niece, daughter of his sister Victoria,

and a nephew, the son of his sister Irene.

All three heirs are entitled to a share of Ernest's estate

and the team quickly identify his nephew.

She's got a cousin. A Michael Allen.

And Michael is the son of Irene Linda Wright,

who married Robert Allen in 1943, in Edmonton.

Now the hunt is on to contact nephew Michael before the competition.

Right, that's...

The guys downstairs traced the address for the nephew, Michael Allen.

And he's living in Woodford.

Dave needs to get there as quickly as possible

and see if he can sign him up.

They've managed to get an address for Michael,

which is in E18.

I've tried ringing the telephone number, but there's no reply.

It's frustrating news. But then there's better luck at the office.

Hello, Dave? Right, that Michael Allen just phoned in the office,

only I missed the call.

So it looks like he must be at home.

In Woodford, East London,

Dave delivers the news to Ernest's nephew.

I represent a company called Fraser & Fraser

and we trace missing heirs and beneficiaries in unclaimed estates.

It's predominantly where people die without leaving a will.

Um, we're working on a case at the moment

where a gentleman passed away last year

and we believe that you were his nephew.

Er, and that he was related to you through your mother.

Ernest Wright, you must be talking about.

-That's the man.

-He was my uncle. I haven't seen him for 40 years.

I know Mum used to go down to visit him at Canvey.

-Yeah.

-Like, in the late '80s, early '90s.

Then she suffered from bronchitis and things

-and it was just too much of a journey for her.

-Yeah.

Um, he, um, he was taken ill over the last couple of years

and, eventually, had to move into a care home.

-I see.

-He passed away in February last year.

Um, he didn't have any children, he was never married.

No, he was a single man.

And because he didn't leave a will,

-any of his estate must pass to a blood relative.

-Mm-hm.

-Now, your mother, as I understand it, was Irene, was it?

-Yes.

-She was his sister.

-Yes.

And because Irene has sadly passed away,

then any entitlement she would have had passes to her children.

Which I'm the only one.

You're the only one, so whatever she would have got will now go to you.

OK.

Although he hadn't seen him for years,

Michael has fond childhood memories of his uncle.

He was a very quiet man. He was a carpenter.

He was, yeah, worked for the council.

He made me a cricket bat when I was five years old.

-Did he really?

-It was very good.

Michael remembers

how he and his parents once shared a home with Ernest.

It was a big, old house in Haringey, where you had...

Er, it was only a two-storey house.

But then you had...

Downstairs, it was the old scullery and the kitchen,

where Nan used to have... Her bedroom was on the ground floor.

You came up one flight of stairs,

and that was my uncle's bedroom and the bathroom and toilet.

Then, up another flight, and that was our little flat with me, Mum and Dad.

The years went by, the family sort of moved apart.

I'm not really sure of the exact reasons.

But I married in 1970 and we moved over here

and I've not seen that side of the family since.

Despite the sad news of his uncle's death,

Michael plans to put the money he left to good use.

My son is just buying a house and, if there is anything,

it will take 18 months, or whatever,

I think he'll be very happy to get a lump off his mortgage.

-'Hello?'

-Hello. David.

-'Hello, mate, how you going?'

-I've just signed up Mr Allen.

Oh, lovely.

-'Did you really?'

-Yeah.

What's he say about his uncle?

Um, last had any contact with him over 40 years ago.

'Oh.'

Um, and he's going to give the money to his son.

That's a nice result then. Yeah, lovely.

OK, well you're doing well, Dave. I'm really grateful.

-Cheers then, mate.

-'Cheers.'

-Bye.

They've signed up Ernest's nephew with no sign of the competition

and Dave's a happy man.

It's been a really good day today. Apart from a shaky start,

everything's gone pretty smoothly, really.

In total, the heir hunters found two nieces and nephew Michael.

They will all share in Ernest's estate.

Made up of his property and savings,

it's estimated to be worth £200,000.

Heir hunters Celtic Research were investigating the estate of Howard Martin Soberg.

He died in Bradford, aged 64,

leaving an estate worth £9,000.

Heir hunter Saul Marks made quick progress with the case.

There was only one Howard Martin Soberg who ever lived in this country.

Um, you know, it makes it much easier,

but you've still got to make sure that you've got the right family.

Saul discovered that Howard had a daughter, Victoria,

from his first marriage.

If he could find her, she would be the sole heir.

On a submariners' website, he came across a woman looking

for Howard Soberg, who she said was her father.

Could this be the missing daughter Saul was looking for?

Her screen name on this forum was the Vicky T.

And I was thinking, "I can't find her under the name Soberg."

Then, the light bulbs went in my head and I realised

that the deceased's first wife had remarried a gentleman named Tilson.

And that led me to think,

"Right, maybe Victoria took her stepfather's name of Tilson."

So I looked her up under Tilson and there she was in Barnsley.

Saul prepared himself to deliver the sad news to Victoria.

Close-kin cases are always difficult in terms of sensitivity and emotion,

because you often have to break the news to people

that a very close family member has died.

He hadn't died particularly long before his case was released,

so I figured the chances were probably that she didn't know he'd died.

At his Liverpool office,

Saul had found an address for Victoria in Yorkshire, but no phone number.

So he decided to drive to her house.

But it was December and there was heavy snow.

It took me, in the end,

3½ hours to drive 23 miles

just to get out of Merseyside.

I was sitting in the car the whole time, thinking

this was a fairly easy case for me to solve,

which means it was probably easy for the competition, as well.

In total, his journey took him five hours.

But, finally, he arrived Victoria's house.

Her partner was there and he told me,

incredibly frustratingly,

that she was three quarters of the way to Shropshire

on a...to go to a business meeting.

So what he kindly did was ring her up on her mobile.

That left me with the heart-wrenching job of having

to tell this lady, over the phone, in a car,

that her father, who she had been searching for,

had passed away and she had failed in her quest.

And she pulled the car over and she cried and she cried.

What Victoria revealed is a heartbreaking story

of how a daughter and father lost touch.

He was away at sea for most of my early childhood.

I remember him coming home in his uniform.

He was always very smart, very handsome.

Um...

But, really, I don't know what happened on those boats,

I have no idea.

When Howard was posted to Plymouth, his wife refused to relocate

and leave her family in Yorkshire behind.

He bought himself out of the Navy in 1976,

when Victoria was just nine.

My mum, she spent an inordinate amount of time by herself.

She was only a young woman and to be sort of home alone,

raising a child by yourself, couldn't have been easy.

I think that was the reason he came out of the Navy,

so that he could be with his family.

But family life wasn't easy and, shortly afterwards,

Victoria's parents divorced

and her mother married again.

Howard found it hard to adjust to life after the Navy.

He moved away and remarried

and Victoria hardly ever saw him.

The last time I saw my dad was when I was around 20 years of age

and he came round to my house.

He'd got me a cooker and a gas fire

and he fitted those for me.

Um, that was a nice day to remember.

But, after that, I think,

with him being remarried, we just didn't have that much contact.

It wasn't until I was pregnant with my first child, Amy,

that I thought maybe I should look for him.

Because I thought he had the right to know that he had some grandchildren,

but I just couldn't find him.

Six years ago, Victoria thought she was making progress

when an online tracing company thought they'd found him.

I found an address for him, which was down in Gloucestershire.

Sort of a boarding house, where my father was staying.

The landlady told me that he'd left two years since,

that he'd been very poorly, he'd got throat cancer.

He'd had a lot of treatment for it, but he had been very ill.

She thought he'd ended up in the Cheshire area.

So I switched my searching from Gloucestershire to Cheshire,

but I couldn't find anything, no addresses, no nothing.

I'd say that I was looking for my father for over ten years.

After hearing the news that her father had died,

Victoria arranged to meet Saul.

We sat together in her kitchen and she told me in detail

all about her search for her father.

And we both ended up in floods of tears. It was quite incredible.

You don't get cases that touch you emotionally very often.

You do have to be sensitive

to people who have just lost a very close relative.

But I think this is the only case, certainly to date,

where I've found myself in tears with an heir in their house.

Um, it was just incredible to hear the heartache

of her having gone through all these different resources,

all over the country,

online, off-line, to try and find her father.

And then to find...

Ultimately, to have a phone call to say that she'd been unsuccessful.

It felt very strange to be told by a complete stranger

what had happened to my dad.

You don't expect that.

It was very upsetting and distressing, as you can imagine.

But it was also interesting.

At least it gave some closure as to what had happened.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking twist of the story for Victoria

was to find out that her father had been living in a nursing home

within easy reach of where she lived.

When I found out my dad had spent probably three years living in Bradford,

bearing in mind I'm about three quarters of an hour away from Bradford,

from where I live,

I just found it so ironic.

It was... That was...

I think that was the most unbelievable thing, really.

To think that he was so close.

I actually went to the nursing home

where he spent the last two years of his life.

And the staff there were friendly. They told me lots about him.

I met some of his friends that he used to like to go to the pub with.

That was nice, actually, finding out people who had looked after him.

That gave me some comfort.

They told me that they'd scattered his ashes at Scholemoor Cemetery in Bradford,

so I went there and put some flowers.

SHE SNIFFS

Despite eight other heir hunters contacting her,

Victoria signed Saul's agreement

as the sole surviving heir of Howard's £9,000 estate.

I think the most important thing for me

was actually finding out what had happened to him.

Um, that was... It's more valuable than any sum of money.

Um, as for that,

I haven't really made my mind up what I'm going to do with it,

but I think probably the most fitting thing to do would be

to set up trust funds for the children.

Um, I think that would be nice.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd