Fraudster who faked cousin’s will to cheat charity out of fortune jailed

● Forgery denied Medecins Sans Frontieres and others a cut of £7m estate

A man who tried to cheat a humanitarian medical charity out of a multi-million pound legacy by faking a relative’s will has been jailed for two years.

Paul Coppola received a payout from his second cousin’s estate and property and stood to benefit further at the expense of Medecins Sans Frontieres.

But when police were called in he admitted forging the deceased man’s signature.

A sheriff told Coppola: “You did stand to gain a vast amount of money at the expense of a well-known charity.”

Sheriff Frank Crowe said: “Your actions caused much grief, inconvenience and disappointment to the other legatees and your friends and uncertainty to the tenants of properties which were rented from the deceased.”

The sheriff told Coppola that he would have faced a three-year jail sentence if he had been convicted after trial, but it would be reduced in view of his early guilty plea.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that Coppola had known his second cousin, 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 completely.

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

Coppola faces confiscation proceedings brought by the Crown to seize any crime profits.