Murdered antiques dealer’s partner admits forging her will
THE partner of an antiques dealer found bludgeoned to death in her driveway has admitted forging her will in order to get full ownership of their £850,000 home.
Robert Webb, 54, was warned he faces jail after altering the last will and testament of Robyn Mercer several weeks after she was murdered.
Ms Mercer, 50, was struck repeatedly with an axe or a machete after going to put the bins out at her home in West Molesey, Surrey, last March.
No one has been charged with her murder, despite an appeal offering a £10,000 reward for information.
Webb, her partner of 13 years, claimed he found the will hidden within the leaves of a book at the home they shared in the weeks after the murder, Kingston Crown Court heard.
He originally claimed it had already been signed and got his best friend and brother to witness the document. But they told the court Webb had covered the rest of the papers up with a wooden box so they could not see what they were signing. Experts said Ms Mercer’s signature on the will was not genuine.
Lee Harris, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant’s partner, well, ex-partner, had been murdered on her driveway, not by this defendant of course. Some time after the house had been searched, he emailed the police officer saying that he had found the will and sent it on to a solicitor. But it turns out that will was not genuine.”
A post-mortem examination revealed Ms Mercer had been hit once to the front of the head and then struck several times while on the ground.
Webb met Ms Mercer, who worked for silver specialists JH Bourdonsmith, in 2003 and they moved in together, purchasing the property in West Molesey, in 2005. It was valued at £420,000 in 2007, but had risen to £850,000 by the time of the murder.
Lyall Thompson, defending, said Webb claimed he had no intention for the will to be taken as genuine.
Adjourning the sentence for a full report, the judge Recorder David Brock said “all options” were open to the sentencing judge. Webb, of West Molesey, admitted making an instrument with the intent it be accepted as genuine. He was bailed ahead of sentencing on Oct 4.