PC: The Sun
Why did the millionaire consider the burger van chef part of his family
A burger van chef inherited a £5 million fortune from a businessman who treated him like a son, following a High Court battle with the millionaire’s estranged sister over his will. Sam Jones secured the inheritance from his late friend David Turner, who died aged 71 in 2017. Jones and Turner first became friends in 2000 after meeting at a snack bar in Chertsey, according to the Sun.
She told the hearing: “Mr Turner, who had no children of his own, treated Mr Jones like a son and was very close to his family. She also said that Jones viewed Turner as a father figure, while the businessman had become a grandfather figure to Jones’s children. Jones also cared for Turner during the final months of his life, when his illness had become debilitating, according to the barrister.
Despite the life-changing payout, Jones continued working at his burger van in Chertsey, Surrey. The legal dispute centred on Turner’s missing original will, with his sister Linda Cano challenging its validity in an attempt to inherit his estate. However, the High Court ruled in Jones’s favour, allowing him to retain the fortune, which included a family farm and a share in valuable land near the M25 motorway. Turner, who operated a skip hire business and a family pig farm called Woodside Farm, gradually developed a close relationship with Jones. Their friendship grew through shared interests, including guitars and classic cars, and Turner eventually came to regard him as a member of his family. During the High Court proceedings, Jones’s barrister, Rose Fetherstonhaugh, explained the nature of their relationship.
Cano sought to have the 2013 will declared invalid, which would have allowed her to inherit under the laws of intestacy. However, she accepted that she had had little contact with Turner since 2008.
She also told the court that her brother had a history of making and changing his will. The dispute also involved the brothers and sisters’ reportedly strained relationship, with the court hearing that Turner had described his sister in strongly negative terms and had excluded her from his will.