A pensioner who claims he was cut out of his wealthy father’s will because he was an “unwanted war baby” is fighting his niece in court for a share of the £2.4 million fortune.
Colin Johnston, 77, says his mother Elsie always “resented” his birth during the Second World War because it ruined her chances of a movie career, and told him as a child: “I would have been a Hollywood film star if it wasn’t for you.”
He claims his parents “favoured” his younger brother Gary, with his father Sidney buying lord and lady manorial titles for himself and his wife, as well as Gary and his two children but snubbing his eldest son.
Mr Johnston’s mother died in 2013 and his brother passed away in 2016, but when his father died aged 95 in 2017, Mr Johnston was cut out of the will and the entire estate was passed to Gary’s daughter, Natalie Wackett. He is suing his niece, arguing the £2.4 million should be split down the middle.
Miss Wackett, 39, claims her uncle’s “serious gambling habit” caused a rift in the family and led to him being disinherited, adding that Mr Johnston was born into a loving family.
Mr Johnston told the High Court his mother, a seamstress, became pregnant in 1942 before she was married and while his father was serving in the RAF. His barrister David Giles argued: “Colin says these circumstances fed a determination that Colin would not inherit, and favouritism expressed towards Gary, and later his daughter Natalie.”
Mr Johnston, from Barnet, told the court he now struggles for money and sometimes has to work part-time as a driver, arguing his father failed to make reasonable provision for him in the will.
Miss Wackett, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, took over the family business, north London car and property firm Johnston & Sons, when her father died and claimed she took on “considerable financial responsibility and commitment”.
Her barrister Romie Tager QC insisted that Mr Johnston was “loved, as a son should be, from the moment of his birth”. He argued that Mr Johnston was cut out of the will over fears he would gamble away the inheritance.
Mr Johnston also claims the true value of the inheritance could be as much as £13 million thanks to hidden assets, including South African gold currency. Miss Wackett says this is a “gross exaggeration”. The case before Judge Edwin Johnson QC continues.
