Ex-wife of Who star sues brother over mother’s £3m flat
THE musician who wrote the lyrics to War of the Worlds is being sued by his sister in a battle over proceeds from their late mother’s £3million home.
Gary Osborne faces a legal challenge from Jan Jones, the ex-wife of former The Who and Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones, 73.
She claims her brother, 72, exercised “undue influence” over their mother Joan, an alternative therapist, before she gave him her £3million west London flat.
Mrs Jones alleges her mother was declining with dementia and vulnerable to his pressure when she signed the property over to him in 2002.
She wants the £3million he got from selling the flat to be split among the family. But Mr Osborne denies the allegations, claiming his mother – with whom he had a “very close and loving relationship” – gave him the flat to avoid inheritance tax when she died.
Child prodigy Mr Osborne began his songwriting career at 15 and had his first US hit with The Seekers at 17.
In the 1970s he collaborated with Sir Elton John on his A Single Man album and they had hits with Little Jeannie and Blue Eyes.
But his biggest success was in writing the lyrics to Jeff Wayne’s musical retelling of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds, which scored him an Ivor Novello Award in 2011.
He and sister Jan released a single together I’m Not To Blame in 1965 but now blame each other for a bitter court fight following their mother’s death, aged 94, in 2018.
Mrs Jones, who had two children with drummer husband Kenney
before divorcing, claims her brother used “undue influence” to get their mother to give him the flat when she had dementia.
Her barrister Constance McDonnell QC said Joan – divorced from their composer father Tony Osborne – had transferred the flat in 2002 to Mr
Osborne. Mrs Jones’ legal team claim her mother, then 78, had dementia and “would have needed appropriate professional assistance from a solicitor in order to make such a transfer.”
Mrs Jones, of Newnham, Gloucs, wants the £3million split under the terms of their mum’s will, with the siblings getting a quarter each and the rest for grandchildren.
But Mr Osborne’s, barrister Hazel Hobbs said: “The deceased made the conscious decision to dispose of her assets for the purposes of inheritance tax and knowing that Mr Osborne would support her, which he did.”
The pensioner moved in with her son in 2003, staying for three years before going into a care home.
Mr Osborne denies Joan was significantly in decline when the transfer was made, pointing out that she had continued driving and working.
Now living near Littlehampton, Hants, he says he was already entitled to a share of the apartment as he had contributed to its purchase.
He also says he instructed solicitors to advise her on the transfer and claimed his sister was given cash, a car and a property in Gloucs by their mother at around the same time. A full court hearing will start next year.