Daughter of Harrier jump jet inventor in row over £2.5m family fortune
The daughter of the inventor of the Harrier jump jet is in will row over a £2.5m family fortune.
Candice Harrison, 63, whose father, Arthur Harrison, designed parts of the Hawker Harrier jump jet, is suing her cousin, claiming he poisoned her ailing mother's mind against her to benefit from the family fortune.
Mr Harrison died in 2010, leaving all his wealth, including his share of the £1.2m family home in Surrey, to Julie Harrison, his wife and Candice's mother.
Julie died in 2020 aged 89, leaving an estate valued at over £2.5m. In her will, Julie, an animal lover, set aside money for various pet charities, and left Candice the family home, Appleyard Cottage, in Camberley, as well as substantial assets.
However, under the same 2017 will, her cousin, Jonathan Greenwood, 61, got £400,000 tax free.
Candice is now suing Mr Greenwood, a builder, over the legacy, claiming her mother was pressured into leaving almost a fifth of her fortune to Mr Greenwood after she had become frail and he "played on and exploited her deteriorating condition".
During the proceedings in London's High Court, Candice's barrister, Owen Curry, said that despite being wealthy after she inherited her husband's money, Julie was vulnerable and had begun to develop dementia in 2013.
He told judge, Deputy Master Katherine McQuail, that due to her dementia Mrs Harrison "could not have handled large sums of money".
When she made her last will in 2017, she was too mentally frail to understand what she was signing, the barrister said, claiming that the new will came about because of "undue influence" by Mr Greenwood.
"Candice's case is that from late 2016 - if not before - Mr Greenwood began playing on and exploiting Mrs Harrison's deteriorating capacity in order to persuade her wrongly that her daughter was treating her unfairly, was only interested in money, was unfairly preventing her from managing her own affairs, and was, for example, contemplating selling her house to put Mrs Harrison in a care home," he told the judge.
"His aim in all this, says Candice, was to obtain a significant legacy from her."
Mr Curry added: "There is clear evidence of a campaign over several years in which Mr Greenwood secretly preyed on his aunt's concerns in order to execute documents whose primary aim was to ensure he obtained £400,000 tax free on her death."
Candice now wants the judge to overturn the 2017 will, which would mean her mother's fortune would all go to her under the terms of a previous will, save for various legacies totalling £32,000 which was earmarked for charities.
She says she has "positive evidence" of undue influence on the part of her cousin in the making of the will, part of which comes from footage Candice captured, having set up a video camera in her mother's home to monitor strangers visiting.
"Mr Greenwood was repeatedly encouraging Mrs Harrison to believe that Candice was acting wrongly and would not care for her in the future," said her barrister.
"There was in fact no wrongdoing by Candice."
Candice - who took her mother into her home for the last six months of her life - had also helped her practically by paying her bills and helping with her financial affairs, he said.
Candice Harrison said after the hearing that fighting the case has left her an emotional and financial wreck, costing her over £300,000 so far.
"It has just ripped the heart out of me," she explained. "It ruined me financially and destroyed some emotional part of me.
"All this totally ruined the whole grieving process. The person that I loved I lost a long time ago because she went over to the dark side a long time ago."
Mr Curry told the judge that Candice's claim has gone unopposed by Mr Greenwood, who did not attend the court hearing.
The judge has now reserved her ruling in the case.