Again to flipping burgers: Takeaway boss returns to his road-side snack bar – a day after successful court docket struggle to maintain £5million fortune left to him by eccentric buyer

A roadside chef was again flipping burgers right this moment simply 24 hours after he inherited £5m from a late ‘eccentric’ buyer.

Sam Jones was awarded the large sum from David Turner after a Excessive Courtroom ruling dismissed a problem to his will, launched by the latter’s estranged sibling Linda Cano.

Regardless of turning into a millionaire in a single day, Mr Jones was pictured right this moment sitting by his ‘Saffron’s’ takeaway stall in Chertsey, Surrey, wearing his firm’s inexperienced branded polo shirt and matching baseball cap.

He was seen chatting to prospects exterior the Chertsey Social Membership, the place the meals van operates from, earlier than leaving by way of the automobile park.

It got here as one neighbour who knew Mr Turner for greater than 20 years praised the authorized choice, claiming the late businessman ‘hated’ his sister as a result of she was ‘f*****g horrible.’

Sam Jones was pictured sitting by his ‘Saffron’s’ takeaway stall in Chertsey, Surrey, at lunchtime right this moment, wearing his firm’s inexperienced branded polo shirt and matching baseball cap whereas chatting to prospects

Mr Jones is seen exterior his Saffrons burger van in Chertsey, Surrey, on Thursday 

He stated: ‘Why do you have to inherit one thing simply since you’re blood?… If you don’t need your brothers and sisters to get something, it is as much as you, is not it?

‘If Linda had received the case, all of the folks in that may, all of the folks just like the Polio Basis, would have gotten sod all. She would not have given anyone something.’

On Mr Turner’s relationship with Mr Jones, the person added: ‘He was like a father determine to Sam. They had been very shut.’

He stated Mr Turner had lived in Chertsey all his life and that the massive pig farm he left to Mr Jones had been in his household greater than 70 years.

Mr Jones met Mr Turner whereas serving him a burger within the yr 2000, the Excessive Courtroom in London beforehand heard.

They immediately bonded over a mutual ardour for guitars and traditional vehicles, and remained associates for nearly twenty years, earlier than Mr Turner’s loss of life from an aggressive mind tumour on the age of 71 in 2017. 

He had handled Mr Jones ‘like a son’, the court docket was advised, however described his personal sister Linda Cano, who he misplaced contact with in 2008, as a ‘conniving b***h’. 

He determined to chop Mrs Cano and his ex-partner out of his will in 2013, creating a brand new doc that left all the things to Mr Jones and his different shut associates. 

Mr Turner ran a skip rent enterprise and owned a household pig farm at Woodside Farm in Bittams Lane, Chertsey, which had been in his household for 70 years. 

He additionally owned half a share in a 14-acre plot close to the M25, which if granted planning permission for growth might have a price ticket of as much as £10m.

Within the new will, the multi-millionaire left his youthful good friend each the farm and the share within the mammoth 14-acre plot. 

Mr Jones will inherit the huge quantity from businessman David Turner after a Excessive Courtroom ruling this week dismissed the problem to his will.

The late David Turner, 71 additionally left Mr Jones his half share in a 14-acre plot close to the M25, which if granted planning permission for growth might have a price ticket of as much as £10million

Further lesser legacies went to different friends – together with his musical devices – whereas £5,000 was left to the British Polio Fellowship, as Mr Turner had been suffering from polio as a toddler.

However the brand new will ended up being challenged in court docket by his sister Mrs Cano, as a result of a duplicate of his unique testomony had by no means been discovered.

Attorneys for Mrs Cano, who lives in Spain, argued that it could not be proved that her brother had not destroyed his unique will after altering his thoughts about who he needed to inherit his fortune.

She requested the decide to nullify the 2013 will, which might have left her free to inherit below the legal guidelines of intestacy, as a result of no different will existed and he or she stood in line as subsequent of kin.

However the decide, Grasp Matthew Marsh, dominated towards Mrs Cano on the Excessive Courtroom, leaving Mr Jones to inherit his good friend’s fortune.

In the course of the trial, Rose Fetherstonhaugh – Mr Jones’ barrister – stated there was ample proof that Mr Turner needed his longtime pal to inherit his wealth, mentioning how he cared for him in his remaining months and organised each his funeral and his wake.

Not solely was his sister excluded from benefiting below his 2013 will, she advised the decide, however Mr Turner was adamant that she shouldn’t get a penny.

Mr Turner was described by the decide as a ‘extremely gregarious’ character with a ardour for taking pictures, traditional vehicles and music, who saved an ‘open home’ at his ramshackle farmhouse dwelling, socialising with a detailed group of associates in an outbuilding they ‘maybe fairly grandly known as the music room’.

He and Mr Jones had been inseparable and went on common day journeys to France and Belgium, whereas Mr Turner was additionally near Mr Jones’ family, stated the decide.

Ms Fetherstonhaugh advised the court docket: ‘Mr Turner, who had no kids of his personal, handled Mr Jones like a son and was very near his household.

‘Mr Jones seemed to him as a father determine and he was a grandfather determine to Mr Jones’ kids.

To ensure that Mr Jones (pictured) to gather the inheritance left to him, he needed to struggle a ten yr authorized battle with Mr Turner’s  sister Linda Cano

Mrs Cano had beforehand offered her half share within the 14-acre roadside plot to a property growth firm (Pictured: The late David Turner’s Woodside Farm, in Chertsey)

‘Mr Turner grew nearer and nearer to Mr Jones, and Mr Jones can be across the deceased commonly and up on the farm within the evenings.

‘Against this, Mr Turner had a really poor relationship along with his sister. This was well-known amongst the deceased’s associates; for instance, one good friend’s proof is that he ‘by no means heard Mr Turner say an excellent phrase about Mrs Cano he spoke in language that I would not repeat… he didn’t like her and didn’t need to discuss her’.’

The siblings had been estranged for almost a decade, stated Ms Fetherstonhaugh, and there was proof that Mr Turner had a grievance towards his sister after she offered her half share within the 14-acre roadside plot to a property growth firm.

Ms Fetherstonhaugh additionally highlighted a doc recording his directions across the time of his will, wherein he said that neither his sister nor his ex-partner ought to have ‘any useful curiosity in my cash, property or chattels – the explanation for that is the way in which I’ve been handled by two conniving b*****s’.

Mrs Cano accepted she had had little contact along with her brother since 2008, however claimed he had a behavior of creating and altering his will.

However Mr Jones insisted his good friend had constantly proven that he needed him to inherit most of his fortune, even assembling his band of friends collectively after making his 2013 will when he ‘introduced to his associates that Mr Jones was to be handled because the proprietor of the farm’.

Burger bar chef Sam Jones, pictured exterior court docket, was left a £5million fortune by an eccentric businessman who befriended him at his roadside snackbar

A lot of the talk within the case hinged round whether or not Mr Turner could have intentionally destroyed his unique will, though Mr Jones rejected this notion.

The court docket heard that each Mr Jones and the executors of Mr Turner’s property have hunted excessive and low all through the 14 outbuildings and inside rooms of Woodhill Farm in a useless seek for the unique.

The search was made all of the tougher as a result of Mr Turner, though a pointy businessman, had a fame as a ‘hoarder’ and one witness stated his workplace ‘seemed as if it had been by two world wars’.

4 copies of the unique will survived Mr Turner’s loss of life, the decide famous, and there was no proof that he ever tried to make a brand new will or tore up the unique.

Mrs Cano instructed that previously her brother had made a number of wills however at all times ended up altering them when he ‘fell out with a specific beneficiary.’

However the decide stated her declare was ‘unsupported’ by the proof.

Mrs Cano, who gave proof by way of a video hyperlink, claimed her brother additionally had ‘a bent to lie and can be selective with the reality’, however the decide dismissed her feedback as ‘basic assertions’.

The court docket heard that each Mr Jones and the executors of Mr Turner’s property have hunted excessive and low all through the 14 outbuildings and inside rooms of Woodhill Farm in a useless seek for Mr Turner’s unique will 

 ‘I do not discover her proof to be of any help to me,’ he stated.

Discovering in favour of Mr Jones, he concluded: ‘It is clear from the proof that Mr Turner expressed a robust dislike for his sister. His intentions had been clear in 2013 that he needed Mr Jones to learn as his good friend and that he did not need any a part of his property to go to Mrs Cano.

‘There isn’t any proof of any form to recommend that Mr Turner’s intentions modified from the date he made his will in 2013, and he remained estranged from his sister.

‘There’s clear, unchallenged proof that Mr Jones was a day by day customer to the farm. Mr Jones and others helped look after Mr Turner when his sickness grew to become debilitating shortly earlier than his loss of life, exhibiting the sturdy bond and connections between them.

‘There isn’t any proof that Mr Turner tried to make a brand new will.’

The decide’s ruling implies that the 2013 will stands in favour of Mr Jones.