Man admits faking multi-million pound will to cheat charity

A man who faked a relative’s multi-million pound will in a bid to cheat a humanitarian medical charity out of a “colossal” legacy is facing proceedings to claw back any crime profits.

Paul Coppola received a payout from his second cousin’s estate and property but when police were called in admitted forging the deceased man’s signature and said he did not agree that the residue should be left to Medicins Sans Frontieres.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that he had known Desiderio Coppola all his life and they had a close relationship with Coppola referring to him as an uncle.

Mr Coppola had signed a will in July 2010 appointing a friend, Christopher Ferrard, and his solicitor to act as his executors in the event of his death.

The will bequeathed various amounts among friends and family, including a £100,000 legacy to Coppola.

It also gave instructions that tenants of business premises were to be offered a reasonable chance to purchase those premises and left the residue of his estate to Medicins Sans Frontieres which provides medical aid in war torn regions and developing countries.

But the court heard that in October the following year just days before Mr Coppola’s death a new “will” appeared which purported to bear his signature.

It appointed Mr Ferrard and Coppola to act as executors and altered bequests to friends and family and removed one person completely from the will.

It made no reference to business premises and instructed that the remainder of the estate be paid to Coppola, of Waverley Park Terrace, Edinburgh, cutting out the charity.

Fiscal Ann Macneill earlier told the court that when Mr Coppola died in 2011 his estate was valued at approximately £7 million.

She said Mr Ferrard had attended at the deceased’s address where some family and friends had gathered and Coppola handed him a copy of the new “will”, but he was suspicious of it.

The following day Coppola called a goddaughter of the deceased, Elvira Fearn, to tell her about the content of the faked document.

The fiscal said: “Although she had no knowledge of the wills or the deceased’s intentions, she was suspicious of the will because she was aware that the deceased hated to pay tax and she did not believe that he would have omitted Medecins Sans Frontieres completely and left the residue to the accused as there would have been a large tax liability to pay.”