‘Fake Lady’ back in court for row over ‘lost’ £110k
A FRAUDSTER who gained notoriety after a £2.7million scam 30 years ago is under investigation after £110,000 allegedly went missing from her father’s estate.
Rosemary Cubbin, 58, served a jail term in the 1990s after going on an extravagant spending spree with millions she took from a hospital charity where she was deputy director.
Mrs Cubbin used her ill-gotten gains to live out a fantasy life, claiming to be a rich heiress with the made-up title Lady Rosemary Aberdour.
She is now once more under police investigation and was in front of a judge last week after cash and assets worth about £110,000 went “missing” from her late father’s estate, it was said.
Her brother, Robert Aberdour, took her to London’s High Court. He asked Judge Stephen Lloyd to remove her as an executor of Dr Kenneth Aberdour’s estate due to her failure to account for where around £90,000 cash, plus items from their father’s house, had gone. The siblings are the only beneficiaries of their father’s estate following his death in 2018.
Joshua Winfield, Robert’s barrister, told the judge Mrs Cubbin “cannot account for a significant sum of money”. He added: “There is an ongoing police investigation as well.” However, no charges have been made and police were unable to comment.
Mrs Cubbin has since repaid about £47,000, it was said. The court heard Mrs Cubbin and her husband
Michael, together with her brother and his wife, Susan, had all been appointed executors of the estate.
But Mr Winfield said, given the missing money, they could not now work together in the interests of the estate.
After a day of argument in court, the two couples agreed that all four should step down as executors of the estate and that an independent solicitor should take over.
The police still ongoing.
Mrs Cubbin’s criminal case in 1992 received press attention worldwide and featured in the 1995 BBC documentary Scam!
Accounts of the extravagant spending spree she went on with money intended for The National Hospital Development Foundation ensured her notoriety at the time.
She rented a London penthouse overlooking the Thames, sent a chauffeur to Harrods to buy steak for her labrador, and hired drag queens from a West End show for a party.
“Lady Rosemary” even hired a car and driver to take her dog from London for a walk in Scotland. She also spent huge sums on jewels and holidays.
After being rumbled, she fled to Brazil, but was tracked down and sentenced to four years in jail. investigation is