Inheritance ‘like winning the lottery’

A WOMAN accused of forging an elderly man’s will to get her hands on a share of his £320,000 estate said inheriting his money was like “winning the lottery”.

Karen O’Brien, 53, appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday where she denied conspiring to fake the will of James Wilmot, known as Jim, who died aged 89 in 2014.

The court previously heard the deceased’s estate was worth a total of £319,883.24.

It is alleged O’Brien, of Glanmuir Road, Tremorfa, along with her codefendants Gemma Gauci, 36, of Whitmuir Road, and Leanne Collins, 40, of Stenhousemuir Place, worked together to make a false will.

Handwriting experts concluded the signature on the document, created in 2013, did not belong to Mr Wilmot.

A previous will, which had been created in 2010, was initially dismissed after O’Brien was named as a beneficiary and a witness. But the 2013 will was discovered two weeks afterwards by O’Brien and Gauci, who claimed they were cleaning Mr Wilmot’s home six months after he died.

It is claimed O’Brien and Gauci posed as executors and took cash payments of up to £4,000 and £10,000 each, and were in the process of selling Mr Wilmot’s home in Clydesmuir Road, in Tremorfa, for £87,000.

Prosecutor Clare Wilks said: “What did you and Gemma think when you found the will and it said you would get half of his estate each?”

O’Brien replied: “We didn’t know what it meant. We found it and took it to the solicitors.”

Ms Wilks added: “Any news of a windfall would have been great news for you.”

O’Brien said: “Well obviously, it would have been like winning the lottery. When the solicitors told us we were entitled to money, we were dumbstruck.”

When asked whether she could think of anyone who would forge Mr Wilmot’s will to leave her and Gauci his entire estate, O’Brien said she did not. It was also claimed by O’Brien that she told her solicitors she had been having an affair with Mr Wilmot,

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not that she had been his partner, as Ms Wilks put it.

The court also heard that O’Brien had a number of convictions for shoplifting prior to this case.

Gauci was also cross-examined by Ms Wilks. She claimed she helped O’Brien look after Mr Wilmot and would clean his house and cook him meals.

She described the deceased as a “chatty man” but “lonely”.

The prosecutor also revealed that the defendant had convictions of theft and of making a false representation.

She said: “You have acted dishonestly on numerous occasions and that’s the way you have acted to the solicitors.

“You and your co-defendants acted together to action this will and for a few months you got away with it.” Gauci said: “No.” The trial continues.