When Bolton pensioner Ellen Crank was murdered in 2003 it seemed she’d been the victim of a terrible burglary which had gone horribly wrong. But as police began to investigate, they discovered that while the motive was indeed Ellen’s money, this was anything but a random attack by a stranger.
75-year-old Joan Sumpton had never been in trouble with the Law in her life. But all that changed in 2001, when her sister’s will became the trigger for a campaign of hate against her own family, that lasted seven years. Joan’s saga spans 70 years, beginning in a Nottinghamshire workhouse and ending in the courthouse.
Oxford-educated author Charles Hills led a quiet life in London until a feud over his mother’s will erupted in 2002 - when he became embroiled in a murder plot that would destroy his life. In this TV exclusive, the writer tells us how he devised his deadliest plot.
Millionaire tycoon Ramadan Guney was the owner of the largest private cemetery in the UK. But when he died unexpectedly in 2006, the burial ground became the battle ground for one of the most bizarre and sensational inheritance disputes of recent times, culminating in a dramatic murder trial.
Pensioner Annie Kay lived a quiet, modest life on the Essex coast. But Annie had a secret, she was actually a millionaire. When she died in 1997, her mysterious last will sparked an incredible inheritance feud and one of the most extraordinary cases that police had ever tackled.
In 2000, the headless body of a young man was found in a park in Birmingham. The police had no clues about his identity - his pockets were empty apart from a bus ticket and a single key. But in the following year, the killer would strike again and police would discover just how far some people will go to claim their inheritance.
When Greg Baker was murdered in 2007, police knew they had their work cut out if they were to find his killer. Greg was disabled and relied on the kindness of his close-knit community to keep him safe. He never locked his door so anybody could have killed him. But as they uncovered a sinister murder plot over an inheritance, police would discover that Greg’s killer was not just anybody but the person he cared for more than any other.
In 2003, Dominic Dalton used a dressing gown cord to strangle his lover, Bernard Murphy, to death. Dalton was found guilty of manslaughter but for Murphy’s family, the ‘final insult’ was yet to come. Later that year, Dominic Dalton began a battle to lay claim to his victim’s inheritance.