Nigel and Jennifer Crisp at Norwich Crown Court. Picture:
Simon Finlay
Editor's note: You have to love those Brits...they punish forgers...unlike our own Probate Court of Cook County that appears to encourage them. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Fraudster tried to cheat his family out of inheritance by forging late father’s will
A fraudster tried to cheat his family, including his own son, out of their rightful inheritance by forging his late father’s will.
Nigel Crisp, 63, of Norwich Road, Pulham St Mary, forged a handwritten will of his father Robert who died in 2011, leaving his estate, worth more than £100,000, to his wife Jennifer, 58.
Norwich Crown Court heard that in fact Robert Crisp had left the bulk of his estate to his sister-in-law and the rest to his grandson Stephen, who is Nigel Crisp’s son, in his true final will.
Richard White, prosecuting, said after forging the new will, which he claimed to have found in a drawer, Nigel Crisp got his wife to use this to collect about £10,000 from his late father’s bank account.
He was in the process of trying to sell his father’s home, which was a few doors away from his own and valued at about £135,000, when family members raised concerns about the handwritten will to police and it was discovered to be a fake.
Mr White said although Crisp managed to get £10,000, if he had been successful, after any expenses and mortgage payments he would have stood to make £123,000 from the scam.
Mr White said a handwriting expert who examined the will found it had been written by Nigel Crisp.
In police interview Nigel Crisp at first had tried to claim his father was ”always making wills” and he had found the will in an envelope in a drawer, although he later admitted the fraud when he came to court.
Yesterday, members of Crisp’s family arrived at court hoping to see him sentenced after he admitted making a false instrument and his wife Jennifer admitted using a false instrument with intent.
The court heard that Nigel Crisp had previous convictions for fraud.
However Nigel Crisp, who arrived in a wheelchair was taken ill before the hearing so with the couple’s agreement they were sentenced in their absence. After reading a medical report about Nigel Crisp, Recorder Patricia Lynch jailed him for 22 months suspended for two years and imposed a three-month jail sentence suspended for nine months on Jennifer Crisp. Jennifer Crisp was also given a six month supervision order under which she will attend a wellbeing course.
Recorder Lynch said it was a “horrible” offence which had caused distress to the family.
She told family members: “Go away with my sympathy.”
Michael Clare, for Nigel Crisp, said it was a mean offence and he deserved prison but for his medical problems.
He said Nigel Crisp was on 34 tablets and had heart disease.
“It’s going to get worse. He has had two quite serious heart attacks.”
Jude Durr, for Jennifer Crisp said: “Whatever the potential amount of the forgery, the sum obtained was £10,000.”
He said when the matter came to light, Jennifer Crisp had offered to pay the money back which she had been given.
“This was an unsophisticated scam using a clumsy device.”
He said Jennifer Crisp was a vulnerable person and said there was a background of “manipulation.”
A confiscation hearing will be held at a later date to try to get back some of the cash the couple took.
After the case Stephen Crisp, 40, said he hoped the family could now try to move on.
He said he helped discover the fraud after his suspicions were aroused when he found that his grandfather’s bank account had been cleaned out of cash and also that his father had sold furniture from his grandfather’s home – despite some of the items being left to him.
He said: “My grandfather would be turning in his grave about what has happened.”
KawamotoDragon.com
Nigel Crisp, 63, of Norwich Road, Pulham St Mary, forged a handwritten will of his father Robert who died in 2011, leaving his estate, worth more than £100,000, to his wife Jennifer, 58.
Norwich Crown Court heard that in fact Robert Crisp had left the bulk of his estate to his sister-in-law and the rest to his grandson Stephen, who is Nigel Crisp’s son, in his true final will.
Richard White, prosecuting, said after forging the new will, which he claimed to have found in a drawer, Nigel Crisp got his wife to use this to collect about £10,000 from his late father’s bank account.
He was in the process of trying to sell his father’s home, which was a few doors away from his own and valued at about £135,000, when family members raised concerns about the handwritten will to police and it was discovered to be a fake.
Mr White said although Crisp managed to get £10,000, if he had been successful, after any expenses and mortgage payments he would have stood to make £123,000 from the scam.
Mr White said a handwriting expert who examined the will found it had been written by Nigel Crisp.
In police interview Nigel Crisp at first had tried to claim his father was ”always making wills” and he had found the will in an envelope in a drawer, although he later admitted the fraud when he came to court.
Yesterday, members of Crisp’s family arrived at court hoping to see him sentenced after he admitted making a false instrument and his wife Jennifer admitted using a false instrument with intent.
The court heard that Nigel Crisp had previous convictions for fraud.
However Nigel Crisp, who arrived in a wheelchair was taken ill before the hearing so with the couple’s agreement they were sentenced in their absence. After reading a medical report about Nigel Crisp, Recorder Patricia Lynch jailed him for 22 months suspended for two years and imposed a three-month jail sentence suspended for nine months on Jennifer Crisp. Jennifer Crisp was also given a six month supervision order under which she will attend a wellbeing course.
Recorder Lynch said it was a “horrible” offence which had caused distress to the family.
Michael Clare, for Nigel Crisp, said it was a mean offence and he deserved prison but for his medical problems.
He said Nigel Crisp was on 34 tablets and had heart disease.
“It’s going to get worse. He has had two quite serious heart attacks.”
Jude Durr, for Jennifer Crisp said: “Whatever the potential amount of the forgery, the sum obtained was £10,000.”
He said when the matter came to light, Jennifer Crisp had offered to pay the money back which she had been given.
“This was an unsophisticated scam using a clumsy device.”
He said Jennifer Crisp was a vulnerable person and said there was a background of “manipulation.”
A confiscation hearing will be held at a later date to try to get back some of the cash the couple took.
After the case Stephen Crisp, 40, said he hoped the family could now try to move on.
He said he helped discover the fraud after his suspicions were aroused when he found that his grandfather’s bank account had been cleaned out of cash and also that his father had sold furniture from his grandfather’s home – despite some of the items being left to him.
He said: “My grandfather would be turning in his grave about what has happened.”
KawamotoDragon.com
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