Had it not been for three men with a wealth of legal experience, Annette and David Spillman could now have almost £2 million in their bank accounts.

Annie Kay's original solicitor, Peter Boardman, was suspicious when told she had made a new will with a different firm.

After her death, he contacted the charity, Scope, which had seen no sign of the money she had left it.

The suspicion of Paul Martin, Scope's legacy co-ordinator, was sufficiently roused for him to obtain a caveat on the will - effectively freezing the money - and to put the matter in the hands of lawyer Peter Jeffreys.

He got copies of the old and new wills, the latter leaving most of the cash to the Spillmans, with £10,000 to "my dear friend Annette Russill".

With the help of a private investigator, Mr Jeffreys tracked down Miss Kay's close friends and neighbours, none of whom had heard of Ms Russill.

He said: "At this stage, I thought the new will had been made under undue influence. Yet according to the solicitor's note of the meeting I knew Annette and David Spillman had not been there when it was signed."

Further clues came when Mr Jeffreys found the will was made at Miss Kay's Dawlish Drive home in February, 1997 - but Miss Kay had not returned to the house since she moved in with the Spillmans in July, 1996.

Mr Jeffreys said: "I knew the will was signed at Dawlish Drive, so if Miss Kay had not been there, someone else must have signed it."

The solicitor brought in a handwriting expert who compared the new will with cheques known to have been signed by Miss Kay.

He declared it was not her signature on the will.

Mr Jeffreys said: "I thought if Annette Russill had suddenly rocketed into the frame, she must be the person who had signed the will, and the £10,000 was her cut.

"Everything fitted perfectly.

"The theory was all very well but I did not quite know how to prove it."

Mr Jeffreys contacted police and made available all his evidence.

Their further investigations, yielded more than enough evidence to make a criminal prosecution stick.

Mr Martin said: "In my 40 years of probate experience, I have never come across a case like this before, or one even remotely like it."

Cunning - Spillman

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