My Brother My Enemy

On 24th November 1999 my stepmother gave my brother her General Power of Attorney giving him absolute power over all her finances. She did not receive separate legal advice. It was witnessed by one very elderly neighbour. On 3rd March 2000, only three months later, my stepmother gifted her luxury penthouse apartment to my brother "in consideration and recognition of financial debts incurred by my late husband". The only outstanding debt my father had when he died was to glaziers for £3422.16, which I paid.

None of this came to my attention until after my stepmother's death in 2007. My stepmother made a valid and very fair Will in 1990, naming 11 beneficiaries, In 1999 she added a Codicil merely cutting out one beneficiary. Yet three months later she cut everyone except my brother out. Why? I embarked on a journey to find out, uncovering a story of greed and power, what I believe to be psychological and financial abuse of the elderly and inheritance fraud.

My brother did not register the Deed of Gift until just before my stepmother's death in 2007. I am told by a criminologist that before 2004 creditors - including the likes of my brother - were able to claim the whole equitable value of any property owned by debtors in consideration of payment of any debt. That was so even if the value of the property far outweighed the value of the debt. But the effect of the new precedent was if the debtor did not obtain independent legal advice before getting into such debt, creditors could no longer claim the full equitable value if the debtor's sacrifice would be too great. Let us not forget however, that this debt was not my stepmother's, it was my father's, and I paid it, not my brother. Why would my stepmother give her stepson an apartment valued at £600,000? There was no clause allowing her to live in the property until her death.

My autobiography, My Brother My Enemy, answers these questions, but does not solve them. Devon and Cornwall Police will not intervene. Why not? Perhaps because my brother once worked for the Police and has been awarded the MBE for services to the Police. My Brother My Enemy delves into the subject of unscrupulous solicitors and what happened when I attended a mediation in Exeter to try to solve matters. For example, why does the mere £40,000 granted to my two grandsons languish in an Exeter solicitors account earning 0.05% interest for the next 22 years?

Find out the answers to these questions by reading My Brother My Enemy, available from www.ablelimitededitions.co.uk or any good book shop. Read free excerpts from the book