0:00:03 > 0:00:06Every year thousands of people die with no known family
0:00:06 > 0:00:07and without leaving a will.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Nobody knew very much about him.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13He was one of these guys, he seemed to keep himself very much to himself.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17If no relatives come forward, their money will go to the Government.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20And that's where the heir hunters step in.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21Hello, Mal.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24They are experts in tracing long lost family members
0:00:24 > 0:00:26who are entitled to part of an estate.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29It came as a bolt out of the blue, really.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Their work involves detailed research.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Because you're in a competitive process there is a time constraint.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37And there are often thousands of pounds at stake.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41We've since discovered that the pearls found in Marion's house
0:00:41 > 0:00:43actually belonged to the Duchess of Windsor.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46But it's also about reuniting families
0:00:46 > 0:00:48and bringing people closer together.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52I didn't know what I know now about my own family.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Above all, it's about giving people news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Coming up, the heir hunters take on a huge gamble.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11We've really got to establish
0:01:11 > 0:01:14whether this case is worth looking at financially.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18And the tale of one family driven apart by war is revealed.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Suddenly our whole world was completely shattered.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Plus, have you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed
0:01:24 > 0:01:26estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Could a fortune be heading your way?
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Tuesday afternoon in central London,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and the team at heir hunting firm Fraser and Fraser
0:01:40 > 0:01:43are hard at work on a new case that has just come out.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48I've got the late Doris Stout.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I'm wondering if I could speak to someone who may have dealt
0:01:51 > 0:01:55with her affairs or knew the lady?
0:01:55 > 0:01:56Thank you, bye-bye.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03We've picked up a case or a potential case of Doris Stout. Erm...
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Now, it looks like she was possibly in a nursing home,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09although maybe her property was sold.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13In which case, although she'd been in a nursing home for a couple of
0:02:13 > 0:02:18years, there is potential for there to be a reasonable estate remaining.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25We are going to look into this quite urgently, because it's got potential.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32Doris Stout passed away in March 2013 in a nursing home in Essex.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34She was 90-years-old.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Together with her husband, John,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40she had lived in the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea for many years.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43According to neighbours,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47they were a couple who loved a night out on the town.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Sometimes they would be practising,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54because we could hear the music, they would be practising dance steps.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58They used to go out every night, it didn't matter what the weather.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Snowing, raining, whatever, and they used to go to the pub.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08She would go out in a lovely dress, wouldn't she? She'd be all done up.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12They didn't go out scruffy, they went out done up nicely in the evenings.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Fantastic, fantastic people.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And it seems the pair were the centre of each other's world.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23They were a devoted couple.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27She worshipped John, and John was, you know, cock-a-hoop.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29They were a good couple.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32They lived, basically, for one another.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Doris was born Doris James in February 1923
0:03:39 > 0:03:41in Poplar, east London.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43As she died without leaving a will
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and as no family have come forward, her case has been advertised as
0:03:47 > 0:03:51unclaimed by the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Cases are referred to the Bona Vacantia division by all
0:03:54 > 0:03:58sorts of people, usually the local authority who will have dealt
0:03:58 > 0:04:00with the funeral, sometimes hospitals,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03sometimes friends of the deceased will refer cases.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06They can also come from private firms and solicitors,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09so really anyone can refer an unclaimed estate to us.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11The Bona Vacantia list
0:04:11 > 0:04:14is a common source of work for the heir hunters.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15And until recently,
0:04:15 > 0:04:20the minimum value of any estate appearing on the list was £5,000.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22But lately all that has changed.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Generally speaking, everything had some money,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and had enough money to work it through and complete it.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33Now that value has dropped. That value has dropped from £5000 to £500.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36The Treasury do not publish the exact value
0:04:36 > 0:04:37of any estate on their list,
0:04:37 > 0:04:43so the team have no idea whether cases are worth £500 or £5 million.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45They work for a percentage of the estate,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48which would be agreed with any heirs they sign up.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52And if they don't find any heirs, they won't earn a penny.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Any chance of getting that over the phone?
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Case manager Gareth Langford and the team believe that Doris had owned
0:04:59 > 0:05:05a property and have estimated this estate could be worth £175,000.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07But they know that Doris spent at least two years
0:05:07 > 0:05:09living in a nursing home,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and it's possible her house was sold to pay for her care.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15So the team can't be certain of the case's true value.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21On face value the estate has possibly got some good value.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27Actually, it's more likely that most of the value of the estate has been
0:05:27 > 0:05:30swallowed up by nursing home fees.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Which is sadly often the case these days.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Despite the uncertainty surrounding the value of her estate,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41the team have already made good progress
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and established that Doris married John Stout in 1946 in East Ham.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50As John died before Doris and they had no children,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52the team need to look for any siblings she might have,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55as they or their children would be next in line to inherit.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The heir hunters have discovered that Doris's parents were
0:06:00 > 0:06:02George James and Annie Harbour.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06They believe George and Annie had at least one other child,
0:06:06 > 0:06:07a daughter called Marjorie,
0:06:07 > 0:06:12who was born six years before Doris in 1917 and died in infancy.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16But surprisingly, Doris
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and Marjorie were born a long time after their parents married.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25The deceased parents married in 1903.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30So we've got a birth in 1923, a birth in 1917,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33but there's obviously all that time in between 1911 in 1903
0:06:33 > 0:06:37where there could be other siblings of the deceased.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42It's these siblings and their children who the team now need to
0:06:42 > 0:06:46trace, as they or their children could be heirs to Doris' estate.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51As the team get to work trying to trace more siblings,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55using censuses and birth records, Gareth gets a phone call
0:06:55 > 0:06:58which might shed some light on the value of her estate.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Thank you, bye-bye.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Right, that's a bit of background information.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Basically, Doris went into care after her husband passed away.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It's not good news for Gareth.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13As Doris' husband died seven years before her,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Doris lived in a nursing home for a lot longer than they thought.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21So even though she owned a property, potentially worth £175,000,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24her entire estate may have been spent on her care.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27So that could have quite a dramatic effect on the value
0:07:27 > 0:07:28of the estate from our point of view.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Because at this stage we've really got to establish
0:07:31 > 0:07:34whether this case is worth looking at financially.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Meanwhile on the research side, the team have been able to
0:07:39 > 0:07:42establish that Doris did indeed have more siblings.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45In fact, it seems she came from a very large family.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I found a 1911 census that had five children.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56We were aware that there were two additional children born after 1911.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00As the result of some research, I found an additional
0:08:00 > 0:08:04three other children as well, born between 1911 and 1920.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08It gives us a total of 10 children.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13We've established that one of the children, Marjorie,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17died in infancy, but several of them married.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Six of those went on to have children.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24A big family means the company
0:08:24 > 0:08:26must invest more resources to trace heirs.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31So with any case they take on, boss Neil must try to assess
0:08:31 > 0:08:34whether the commission they will earn from an estate is enough
0:08:34 > 0:08:35to pay for their work.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39The bigger the family,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42the greater chance we have of finding that one person.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47Once we've found that one person, then we don't want any more.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Once we found the first beneficiary, then we have to be careful.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54We have to then start looking at estate size.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56If we are dealing with a relatively small estate,
0:08:56 > 0:09:01maybe £15,000-£20,000, and we suddenly start getting hundreds
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and hundreds of cousins, then we've got a problem.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08For now, the team are pressing on with their research,
0:09:08 > 0:09:09but they know it's a risk.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Not going there then. Focus on marriages.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Grab another stem. There's hundreds of them.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19They've discovered Doris had nine siblings,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21all of whom seemed to have died.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23So they are now looking for their descendants,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27who would be heirs to Doris's estate.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29The case isn't going very well really.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33We've got an awful lot of nee kin, but we're not getting any heirs.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Erm... We are either getting marriages
0:09:37 > 0:09:39but they are not having children,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43or brothers passing away as bachelors.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48To add even more pressure to the team, they know that any
0:09:48 > 0:09:51number of rival heir hunting firms could be working the case.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55It's urgent because we've got to beat the competition.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I know there will be lots of companies looking at this case.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Whatever the value of Doris' estate may be, if a rival firm
0:10:03 > 0:10:05reaches the heirs first,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Gareth and the team won't make a single penny.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12And as the search continues, will all their hard work pay off?
0:10:14 > 0:10:18At the moment we're fighting quite a big battle with lots of heirs,
0:10:18 > 0:10:23lots of competition, and what we need to do is get them all on our side.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32While most heir hunts remain in the UK,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34some can be truly global affairs.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38And that was certainly true when probate research firm Finders
0:10:38 > 0:10:40took on the case of David Lynsdale.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42Based in London,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46the company is one of the largest air hunting firms in the UK.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48And for managing director Daniel Curran,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50it's a rewarding business.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54There's a big plus on some cases
0:10:54 > 0:10:57where you find people that have a life-changing experience,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00whether that's through money they inherit
0:11:00 > 0:11:04or through the family they get to know about that they never knew about before.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08When the firm got to work tracing heirs to Derek Lynsdale's
0:11:08 > 0:11:11£270,000 estate,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14it was up to case manager Ryan Gregory to lead the team.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20We started the case of Derek Lynsdale at the beginning of 2011.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25We found out it was with the Treasury Solicitor's Office, the Bona Vacantia Division,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and we started work on it pretty soon after that.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Derek Lynsdale died in October 2010 at home in Welling, Kent.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39A regular churchgoer, it seems he was a man who kept himself to himself.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44He'd been coming here since before I arrived,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46and I came here about six years ago.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50And he would sit very quietly at the back
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and just take up the collection,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55that was his bit, you know.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Since he passed away,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02I discovered that he had been living with his mum until she died.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07And she'd been a university lecturer or something in Burma.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11And after she died, he lived on his own in the house
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and he was a bit of a loner really.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18As Derek had no wife, children or any close family,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22it was up to Ryan and his team to track down heirs.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Their first job was to establish if Derek had any siblings.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28And to do this,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31they needed to trace his parents via his birth certificate.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36We started with the name of the deceased and the date of death.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39From there, we can usually go back
0:12:39 > 0:12:42and find the birth entry of the deceased.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46But in this particular case,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49looking for a record of Derek's birth
0:12:49 > 0:12:51was not going to be straightforward.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Whilst he died in Kent, he had been born a lot further away,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57in the colony of Burma.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Fortunately for the team, however,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03as Burma was first colonised as a province of British India,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06many of its records are held alongside the Indian ones
0:13:06 > 0:13:08at the British Library in London.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Rather than travel all the way to Burma,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14the team could start work a little closer to home.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Once we knew the records were held at the British Library,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21we sent a junior researcher down to the India Office Records section
0:13:21 > 0:13:26of the British Library to research the baptism and marriage indexes.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30But there was a limit to how useful these records could be.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36The records held at the British Library for Burma stop in 1937.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38After 1937, Burma actually became
0:13:38 > 0:13:42a separately administered colony of the British Empire.
0:13:43 > 0:13:49Unfortunately for the heir hunters, Derek was born in October 1937,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52meaning they had no chance of finding his birth there.
0:13:54 > 0:13:55We couldn't find any records at all,
0:13:55 > 0:14:00so the next logical step was to try and find out who his parents were.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Lynsdale is a very uncommon surname,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08so it was almost easier for us to research the parents.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11And Ryan was soon able to track them down.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The deceased's parents were George Lynsdale and Jean Phipps.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21They married in 1936 in Rangoon, the before he was born.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Jean and George were both from Anglo-Indian families
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and it seems they'd both grown up in Burma,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33which at the time was an important part of the British Empire.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Burma is on the eastern border
0:14:35 > 0:14:38of India, and in the 19th century,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40as a result of three wars -
0:14:40 > 0:14:41one in the 1820s,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44one in the 1850s and one in the 1880s -
0:14:44 > 0:14:47the British annexed Burma.
0:14:47 > 0:14:53They did so principally to protect that eastern border of India.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58It is, to use a phrase, the Jewel in the Crown.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05So in terms of the amount of wealth that Britain extracted from India,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07it's huge, it is the core possession.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Under British rule, Burma itself
0:15:10 > 0:15:14was transformed both physically and economically.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Rangoon changes from basically a rather muddy town, really,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23into the capital of British Burma, the major administrative centre,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26the government centre, the commercial centre.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29And of course, a city dominated also by foreigners.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The Burmese aren't there, it's a European, it's an Indian city.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39It was at the University of Rangoon that Derek's parents met.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Jean went on to become a zoologist
0:15:41 > 0:15:45and George got a job as a secretariat to the British Government.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49For the senior levels of the administration, they lived well.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56They had servants, they had guards, it was as it was in India proper.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59In the physical sense, it could be incredibly luxurious.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03One was surrounded by servants, one had all sorts of amenities,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05one played polo, one drank gin,
0:16:05 > 0:16:11it could be a life of extraordinary luxury, comparative to the time.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Now they knew Derek's parents were, they could now check to see
0:16:17 > 0:16:18if he was an only child.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Because we couldn't find any siblings of the deceased,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28we went back and looked at the wider family
0:16:28 > 0:16:32to try and find aunts and uncles, and therefore cousins.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36On the maternal side of the family, we were able to identify
0:16:36 > 0:16:39the fact that the deceased's mother only had one sibling.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42It was a brother and he died shortly after being born.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45So effectively that side of the family had died out.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50All hopes of finding heirs to this £270,000 estate
0:16:50 > 0:16:52now rested on the paternal side.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55If Derek's father George had no siblings,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58all the teams research would have been for nothing.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Before they could look for George's siblings, however,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04they first had to trace his parents.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07From the baptism entry of the deceased's father,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09we were able to identify the occupation
0:17:09 > 0:17:11of the paternal grandfather, Henry Lynsdale,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14which showed that he was actually a doctor
0:17:14 > 0:17:16in the Indian army based in Burma.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Henry Lynsdale began his career at Madras Medical School
0:17:21 > 0:17:24and went on to become a doctor in the British Indian Army.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29Working in both India and Burma, it was a career that placed him
0:17:29 > 0:17:32at the heart of the ongoing expansion of the British Empire.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35By the time Derek's father was born,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Henry had been posted to the Andaman Islands,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41a group of 200 islands in the Bay of Bengal,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44which at that time were being used as a British penal colony.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Working as a prison doctor there in a jail that still stands today,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52his Anglo-Indian heritage gave him unique status.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Henry Lynsdale seems to have been one of the Anglo-Indians
0:17:58 > 0:18:01who was used as a buffer between the establishment
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and the Indian convicts.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Because most Anglo-Indians could speak Hindustani or other languages,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11they were very familiar with culture, with food,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14with ways of life and so on.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18And so it was felt that they could associate with Indian convicts
0:18:18 > 0:18:22successfully, whilst remaining fairly separate from them.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24To further his career,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Henry and his family would have had to make some serious adjustments.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Anglo-Indians were urban people, they lived in cities,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37they enjoyed the good life - theatre, dancing, bingo,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40all these things - and it wasn't an easy transition
0:18:40 > 0:18:43to a very isolated, hostile,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47uncleared environment in a tropical island.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53And it seems the job required a man of strong character.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59The large majority of convicts were convicted of crimes of violence,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02mostly murder or violent robbery.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06And in the case of women, who constituted about 10 percent
0:19:06 > 0:19:09of the total number of convicts, infanticide.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12So these were violent offenders.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14The key thing for the heir hunters, however,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16is whether Henry and his wife Mabel,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Derek's grandparents, had more than one child.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22If they did, there was still a chance of finding heirs
0:19:22 > 0:19:24to Derek Lynsdale's estate.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28The paternal grandparents had four children in total.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30One of those died without issue,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32one was the deceased's father.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Derek's father George had three siblings.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38As his sister Winifred died in infancy,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42the heir hunters now needed to trace Clement and William's descendants,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Derek's cousins, in order to find heirs.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Once we'd identified George's brothers, we then had to go back
0:19:49 > 0:19:52to the marriage records, try and find the marriage entry for them
0:19:52 > 0:19:55and from there on we could find whether they had any children.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01And the search for Derek's cousins was to uncover a terrifying tale.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06In late December 1941, the Japanese invaded Burma.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11What shook me so much was when we were bombed.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14And suddenly, this lovely, idyllic childhood world
0:20:14 > 0:20:16was totally shattered.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Heir hunters trace thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29But not all cases can be cracked.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32There are thousands out there that have eluded the heir hunters
0:20:32 > 0:20:34and remain unsolved.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Today we're focussing on two Scottish cases.
0:20:40 > 0:20:41Whereas in England and Wales,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44unclaimed estates are dealt with by the Treasury Solicitor
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and their value is not revealed,
0:20:46 > 0:20:51in Scotland, they're advertised by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53And they do list the value.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Could you be the beneficiary they are looking for?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Could you be about to inherit some money from a long-lost relative?
0:21:02 > 0:21:07First up is a case worth almost £55,000.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12John Greer Martin was born on 10 March 1939 in Glasgow.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18When he died on 18 September 2012 in a care home in East Kilbride,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20he left no will,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24and no relatives have come forward to claim his estate.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Did you know John?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Do you have any information that could be key to cracking this case?
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Next is the £7,392 case of Richard Rogers Smith
0:21:35 > 0:21:39who was born on 12 September 1960.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45He died on 9 September 2008 in Melrose in the Scottish Borders.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50It's believed Richard may have been survived by a child,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52siblings and parents.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56But despite all this information, there's been no success
0:21:56 > 0:21:59in tracing beneficiaries to his estate.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Does his name mean anything to you?
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Perhaps you know of some clues which could help find his family.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11Both these estates, totalling over £60,000, remain unsolved.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15And if no-one comes forward, the money will go to the government.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Do you know anything that could help solve
0:22:18 > 0:22:22the cases of Richard Rogers Smith or John Greer Martin?
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Perhaps you could be the next of kin?
0:22:24 > 0:22:28If so, you could have thousands of pounds coming your way.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Back in central London, the team, led by case manager Gareth Langford,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43are busy tracking down heirs to Doris Stout's estate.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Since starting the case,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48they've discovered that she was one of 10 children.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Born the John James and Annie Harbour.
0:22:51 > 0:22:57What we know about George is that in 1903, he was down as a seaman,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00just a general hand on a boat.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04But by 1911, on the census he was down as a ship rigger,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07so helped to construct...helped to put the mast up on the boat.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10So was moving into the shipbuilding industry
0:23:10 > 0:23:12as opposed to the sailing industry.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19And it seems shipping was in the blood,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23as both Doris's grandfathers had worked in the industry before him.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26By the time George became a shipbuilder in 1911,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30the year of the Titanic's launch, the industry was at its peak.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34NEWSREEL: 'England banks on 534 to reaffirm her supremacy on the Atlantic.'
0:23:34 > 0:23:37In 1911, British shipbuilding is turning out no less than 60%
0:23:37 > 0:23:39of the entire world merchant fleet.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42That's four times as much as its nearest competitor, which is Germany.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46For men such as George employed in the industry,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48it was a physically demanding job.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Working conditions in the shipyards were very tough.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Everything had to be done by hand,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56obviously everything was done outside,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59the jobs were very physical and often very dangerous as well.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03And it provided an unreliable form of income.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08It was actually quite well paid by the standards of the day,
0:24:08 > 0:24:09but there was no job security
0:24:09 > 0:24:11and when there was no work, men were not employed.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15So men were quite often thrown effectively into poverty.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17For George, the threat of unemployment would have been
0:24:17 > 0:24:21very real, as he had a large family of 10 children to support.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And it's the descendants of these children
0:24:26 > 0:24:28that Gareth and the team are now trying to track down.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33As one child died in infancy, and two had no children,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36the team are busy tracing heirs
0:24:36 > 0:24:38on six different branches of the tree.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42With the threat of rival firms also working the case,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45it's all hands on deck to find them before the competition.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And finally, it seems they make headway with one stem.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55- There she is, live number... - Brilliant. Thank you.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Doris's sister Ivy had three children
0:24:59 > 0:25:03and the team have just found contact details for one of them.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Hopefully they haven't been contacted already.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09It's actually, although the tree is quite large,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13at this stage we're not sure how many beneficiaries will be involved.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14I'm hoping not many.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Gareth gives the heir a call.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Is that yourself? Oh, brilliant.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Your mother was one of quite a large family, I believe.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25I'm specifically looking at Doris James.
0:25:25 > 0:25:26And he's in luck.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28That would be your aunt...
0:25:28 > 0:25:31He's managed to reach them before the competition.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And that's Mr Stout's sister.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35Thank you very, very much.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Not only that, but the heir is able to fill him in on the family tree.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45And from there, the number of heirs keeps on growing.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49The tree's kind of exploded because every stem,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52whereas we thought a lot of the stems weren't having issue,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56I've now spoken to several beneficiaries
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and they basically said each stem seems to have four or five children.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03So every time I put the phone down, I've got more heirs.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06So what I'm trying to do now really is get another copy
0:26:06 > 0:26:09of the family tree together, so I can pass it on to the secretaries
0:26:09 > 0:26:14to get letters out today to the ones we've located so far.
0:26:14 > 0:26:15Gareth does exactly that,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and with the tree still growing at an alarming rate,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21the team eventually have to call it a day.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28The next day, and although they've found
0:26:28 > 0:26:30a lot of potential heirs to Doris's estate,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33they still have several more to find.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Really, what's left is the sort of slightly more tricky bits,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41really, that we're struggling to sort out, but, you know...
0:26:43 > 0:26:47It's never always easy, so it's good to have difficult bits,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51because if it's difficult for us, it's difficult for everybody else.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55So far, they've completed work on five out of six stems.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I think he may have passed away a minor,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02or he's just not actually a part of our family.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04And they've made great progress,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07tracing 11 nieces and nephews of Doris,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09as well as six great-nephews and nieces.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13All 17 of whom are potential heirs to her estate.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19At the moment, we're fighting quite a big battle, with lots of heirs,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23lots of competition, and what we need to do
0:27:23 > 0:27:26is get them all on our side.
0:27:26 > 0:27:27Where's my cup of tea?
0:27:27 > 0:27:29To add to the team's woes,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32they still don't know how much this case is worth.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37Although Doris and her husband once owned a property worth around £175,000,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40it's possible the proceeds from selling it
0:27:40 > 0:27:43were all used to pay for her care.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45But the impression of Doris's neighbours
0:27:45 > 0:27:48is that they were quite well-to-do.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50And they remember Doris's late husband John
0:27:50 > 0:27:52as a successful businessman.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57His early business interest lay in the fact that he produced
0:27:57 > 0:28:01mannequins that used to show in shop windows.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03And I believe he was one of the first in the country
0:28:03 > 0:28:05to produce those things.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09And it seems like he might have had some money behind him.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14He was quite a neat gardener, if you like, but he used to say,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18"Well, this garden here would fit in a flower bed at my other place."
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And you thought, "Crikey, it must be a fair old place."
0:28:21 > 0:28:25These gardens aren't big, butt to fit one in a flower bed,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28you're talking some sort of garden.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Time alone will tell if the team's gamble will pay off.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34But for now, their main concern is completing the tree.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37And there's one stem causing problems.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39Really, we've contacted most,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43or certainly people on most parts of the family,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47apart from Leslie, who is proving slightly more elusive.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Yes, Leslie's children, we are still trying to track them down.
0:28:53 > 0:28:59Doris's brother Leslie was born in 1918 and died in 1994.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03But the team can't find records to trace any children he might have.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08There's Leslie, over there. Now, they don't think he had four children.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Solving this last stem is absolutely vital to their research,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17as without it, they cannot be sure if they've found all the heirs.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19The worst-case scenario for us, on an estate,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23is if we've got unsolved stems. What we really need to do
0:29:23 > 0:29:26is get every stem up-to-date as quickly as possible.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Because if we're not getting it up-to-date,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30it's possible our competition are.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Finding heirs, however, is just one part of the job.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40The team also want the heirs to sign up with them.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43So Gareth calls travelling researcher Dave Hadley
0:29:43 > 0:29:45and arranges for him to go and visit
0:29:45 > 0:29:47one of the heirs they found yesterday.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50No, I think Marie is the best bet actually.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54All the other stems I've contacted or left messages with.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Lovely, thank you. Bye-bye.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Dave is one of the team's army of travelling researchers
0:30:02 > 0:30:04based all over the UK.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08His job out on the road is to make enquiries, collect documents
0:30:08 > 0:30:10and crucially, to sign up heirs.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15I'm on my way to try and make contact with another heir.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Gareth has been trying to ring her all day,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22but it's constantly engaged, so he's asked me to make a call on her.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Dave's meeting with one of the Doris's nieces, Marie,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30a daughter of Doris's brother George.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33And he's hoping she'll sign with the firm.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35- Mrs Marie Gibbs?- Yes.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38I've got you as...
0:30:38 > 0:30:44As your father was George... would have been Doris's brother.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46So that makes Doris your aunt.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51Once they've run through the tree, Dave explains the uncertainty
0:30:51 > 0:30:54surrounding the value of Doris's estate.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57We can't say how much you're likely to get at this stage
0:30:57 > 0:31:01because we don't know how much the estate is worth.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05We know that she owned her own property at one time.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09But it turns out Marie might have some important information.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12They had this underwear factory as well.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16- Yeah.- The last time I saw him,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18he might have been retired by then,
0:31:18 > 0:31:23so he might have sold the factory by then. I don't know. But...
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Oh, well, there might be a reasonable amount of money
0:31:26 > 0:31:28in the estate in that case.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Perhaps the case might be valuable after all.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Which means it's all the more important that Dave can
0:31:33 > 0:31:36persuade Marie to sign with the company.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40I'll show you the agreement and then you can have a read of it
0:31:40 > 0:31:43and give you an opportunity to ask any questions.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45And then you can tell me what you want to do.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Marie wants some time to look over the documents.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50But things are looking positive.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53So I'll leave that with you.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57All you need to do is put that white copy in that envelope,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59it doesn't need a stamp, and post it back to us.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02OK, thanks ever so much.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05- Lovely meeting you, thanks very much, bye-bye.- Thank you. Bye.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09For heir Marie, news of her aunt's death
0:32:09 > 0:32:11has taken her totally by surprise.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16It was just out of the blue. I didn't know she'd passed away.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22The last time I saw her was about 25 years ago.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26I used to work in a shoe shop and she used to come in to buy shoes.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29She was in her 60s then.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32But Dave's visit has brought back fond memories.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35When I was young, I used to go around her house
0:32:35 > 0:32:38and see her up the high road.
0:32:38 > 0:32:39Very nice person.
0:32:39 > 0:32:46She had no children, but, er, she was, you know, a lovely lady.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Dave leaves Marie to think things over.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50The question of whether she will sign
0:32:50 > 0:32:53might still be hanging in the balance,
0:32:53 > 0:32:54but there's no more he can do.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I think that's me finished for the day now, so...
0:32:57 > 0:32:59going to make my way home.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04And back in the office, Gareth has made his own breakthrough
0:33:04 > 0:33:09with Doris's brother Leslie, who he's been struggling to trace.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I've just had a phone call from one of the potential heirs.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16And they've very kindly filled in quite a lot of blanks.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It appears that Leslie probably only had two children,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and his wife had two children from a previous marriage,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26so that might be why we're really struggling to identify, er,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29firstly his marriage and secondly the issue of it.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Because if the mother's been previously married
0:33:32 > 0:33:34then it's not going to be as obvious.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38This means Gareth and the team now have the vital information
0:33:38 > 0:33:42they need to completely the tree.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44A few days later, Doris's niece Marie
0:33:44 > 0:33:47has looked through the paperwork Dave left with her
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and decided to sign up to allow the company
0:33:50 > 0:33:52to help her claim her share of the inheritance
0:33:52 > 0:33:55in return for an agreed percentage.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59And Marie is just one of the many heirs on this case.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04We were able to establish that there are 21 heirs involved in this.
0:34:04 > 0:34:1018 nephews and nieces, and some great-nephews and nieces as well.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12But from the moment they began working this case,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17one question has hung over them. How much is the estate actually worth?
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Well, Gareth has finally been able to establish the value,
0:34:21 > 0:34:23and it's very good news.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27We slowly discovered that this estate potentially had a much greater value.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30In fact, er, the value is so large,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34it changed the job completely.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Doris's estate is worth a whopping £500,000
0:34:37 > 0:34:40which means the team's gamble has paid off
0:34:40 > 0:34:44and the 21 heirs should each receive a sizable inheritance.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Heir-hunting film Finders were on the trail of the £270,000 estate
0:34:55 > 0:34:58of Derek Lynsdale, who had been born in Burma
0:34:58 > 0:35:02and who had died in the UK in October 2010.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05Case manager Ryan had quickly established that
0:35:05 > 0:35:08any heirs to this estate would come through Derek's father's family.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13With the fact that there wasn't any active stems
0:35:13 > 0:35:15on the maternal side of the family,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17that led us to put all our resources into the paternal side,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20trying to find a lead and trying to find a beneficiary,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22hopefully, on that side of the family.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28Having established that Derek's father George had two brothers,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31the team are on the hunt for any children THEY might have.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35As the family were Anglo-Indians based in Burma,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39to trace them, the team are relying on Burmese records up to 1937
0:35:39 > 0:35:41held by the British Library.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44On the active lines on the paternal side of the family
0:35:44 > 0:35:47we were actually able to find three cousins,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49all born prior to 1937,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53after which the records in Burma stop.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Baptism records reveal that Derek's uncle Clement
0:35:56 > 0:35:58had one daughter, Susan,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01and his uncle William had two children.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03It was a great start,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06but tracing any records beyond that of their birth
0:36:06 > 0:36:08was going to be a tricky task.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Because the records end in 1937,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14we knew that we had to go to alternative resources
0:36:14 > 0:36:17in order to find out what happened to them and where they may be.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21And narrowing down where to look was not going to be easy,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24as the dramatic events in Burma the following decade
0:36:24 > 0:36:27would mean that the heirs could now be anywhere in the world.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31In late December 1941,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35the Japanese invaded Burma from the east,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38from Thailand, which was then called Siam.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43This was a part of a general Japanese advance into south-east Asia.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47With no capacity to defend Burma,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50the British retreated almost immediately.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54After abandoning Rangoon first and working their way up through Burma,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57they destroyed everything in their wake.
0:36:57 > 0:37:03They destroy the electricity generating station in Rangoon.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05They destroy railway lines, they destroy railway bridges,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08they destroy the oil wells of central and northern Burma.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Everything they possibly can, they want to deny to the Japanese.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16So the amount of destruction is very, very substantial.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21Their last act is to open the gates of the prison and the lunatic asylum.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Well, first of all you can't leave prisoners and lunatics locked up,
0:37:24 > 0:37:26but also it causes trouble for the incoming Japanese.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31For British and Anglo-Indian families such as Derek's,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34they needed to get out, and fast.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37When the Japanese attack them - there is a bombing of Rangoon
0:37:37 > 0:37:39actually on Christmas Day of 1941 -
0:37:39 > 0:37:42there is an evacuation of the European population.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46I mean, clearly women and children sort of first,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50but then increasingly the whole population.
0:37:50 > 0:37:51Some got out by ship,
0:37:51 > 0:37:56a few, the most senior people, would eventually fly out.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Um, but some people actually had to walk out.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03At least, they got trains up into northern Burma and walked from there.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08But what impact did this event have on Derek's family?
0:38:08 > 0:38:11The team knew Derek had made his way over to England
0:38:11 > 0:38:14at some stage in his life, but what of his cousins?
0:38:14 > 0:38:16It seemed very unlikely
0:38:16 > 0:38:19that they would have stayed in Burma beyond 1941,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23so case manager Ryan knew he would have to widen his search.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28We assumed that the family could have gone anywhere in the world
0:38:28 > 0:38:31to get away from what was happening.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34And as a specialist, he knew exactly where to start.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39That overseas research, you're largely referring
0:38:39 > 0:38:42to passenger lists which are very, very useful in finding out
0:38:42 > 0:38:45which ports certain people passed through
0:38:45 > 0:38:48and where people may be emigrating to.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52The team were in luck.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55They unearthed a passenger record for Derek's uncle William
0:38:55 > 0:38:59showing that when he left Burma, he headed for Australia.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01If his descendents were still there,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04this could be just the breakthrough they needed.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Due to data restrictions in Australia
0:39:08 > 0:39:11it's hard to search through vital indexes
0:39:11 > 0:39:14that may have been relatively recent.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17It's also harder to search through recent electoral registers.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Luckily in this case we were able to find an obituary record
0:39:20 > 0:39:24for the uncle, which led us to his children in Australia.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28This was great news. By tracing William's two children,
0:39:28 > 0:39:30the team had found their first heirs.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33But the search did not end there,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37as they still needed to track down Derek's other cousin, Susan.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40The paternal uncle Clement actually ended up in the UK,
0:39:40 > 0:39:42we were able to find incoming passenger list
0:39:42 > 0:39:44that suggested that he boarded over here.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Once we knew that Clement Lynsdale had entered the UK,
0:39:49 > 0:39:53we knew that we could look for a death entry for him.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Lynsdale is a very uncommon surname.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58The easiest thing for us to do was to find his death entry,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00to apply for his death certificate, and hopefully,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03somebody in his family would be listed as the informant.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09Luckily we found out that his daughter was listed as the informant
0:40:09 > 0:40:12on his death certificate, which enabled us to track her down
0:40:12 > 0:40:15and let her know that she's going to be due some money
0:40:15 > 0:40:16from her cousin's estate.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23For Derek's cousin Susan, the news came completely out of the blue.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27I was quite...
0:40:27 > 0:40:31gobsmacked. Because it never occurred to me that
0:40:31 > 0:40:33I would inherit anything.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39I mean, I had no idea about Derek, whether he was alive
0:40:39 > 0:40:41or what, so it was a surprise.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45I would say that from my memories of him as a child,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48he had no malice in him at all.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Derek was always known in the family as being very quiet
0:40:52 > 0:40:54and very much under his mother's influence,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and as far as we knew, had never married.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02He and his parents bought a house in Welling,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05where he still lived after they both died.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Being contacted by the Heir Hunters has caused Susan to reflect on
0:41:10 > 0:41:14her early childhood spent in Burma with her cousin Derek.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19From what I can remember of Burma, it was lovely.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21Er...you know,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24the Burmese are laid-back people, really,
0:41:24 > 0:41:29very relaxed. I never had any angst. First time I really...
0:41:29 > 0:41:33Which I suppose is what shook me so much, was when we were bombed.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36And suddenly this lovely idyllic childhood world
0:41:36 > 0:41:40was totally shattered. When it happened,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44obviously it was a huge, complete traumatic experience,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and I still remember it vividly.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52I remember my parents had sent me to stay with my grandparents
0:41:52 > 0:41:54because they lived out in the suburbs
0:41:54 > 0:41:57and so they thought, "Quite safe, nothing will happen there."
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Unfortunately, this was not the case,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04and when the house next door to her grandparents'
0:42:04 > 0:42:06was completely destroyed by a Japanese bomb,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08six-year-old Susan had a narrow escape.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13Grandfather looked around for me and found me
0:42:13 > 0:42:16underneath the dining-room table
0:42:16 > 0:42:18with a wodge of envelopes in my mouth,
0:42:18 > 0:42:19because you were told,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22have something, so that you don't bite your tongue.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26After such a terrifying experience,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Susan and her parents fled Burma, first to India,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33and then later to England, where they settled.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36And that's why Ryan and his team tracked her down.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39What was really nice about this case was it had a really interesting
0:42:39 > 0:42:41and quite full family history.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43It was a very intriguing case
0:42:43 > 0:42:47and we were actually able to put the cousins in touch with each other
0:42:47 > 0:42:49from the other side of the world.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56I had always assumed that we were a small family,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59I'd never met any of the others, had no idea about them.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03You know, I feel, this is wonderful.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06I've found a family I never knew I had.