PT-2018-000874 - [2025] EWHC 2796 (Ch)

The function of this Part B is to set out a broadly uncontroversial chronology of relevant events which will serve as a framework for the findings in disputed areas that follow in later sections.

Richard was born on 27 July 1936. He had three siblings and, when his father died, he inherited one quarter of his father’s farm which was then known as Moat Hall Farm. To address the problem, familiar in the farming community, of a farm being subdivided into shares too small to make each individual share viable, Richard bought out his three siblings’ shares.

Richard married Janet in 1960. He and Janet had six children: Richard Harry, Adam, Rebecca, Rachael, Giles and Sarah.

During his marriage to Janet, Richard had various extramarital relationships which produced six other children. Richard had little contact with these other children with the exception of Dr Julie Ann Walkden (Dr Walkden) who traced Richard in 2008 and re-established contact with him.

Richard augmented the inheritance that he had obtained from his father by purchasing other farmland in Cheshire and, to his mind, “improving” that land. In the 1960s, he enlarged Moat Hall Farm by purchasing adjoining land at Pear Tree Farm and Beech Farm Marthall, Fallows Hall and Davenport House Farm.

In 1974, Richard was sentenced to five years in prison for arson. He was released from prison in 1976.

Janet died in a road traffic accident on 29 February 1976. Richard formed a relationship with Valerie in 1977 and she moved in to Moat Hall Farm. Valerie and Richard’s mother helped to bring up Richard’s children although four of them, Richard Harry, Adam, Rachael and Giles were also sent to boarding school.

In June 1979, Richard purchased Beech Farm, Wilmslow (including the site that was to become 49 Hough Lane). By this time, it had become clear that Richard’s ideas of what constituted an “improvement” to farmland did not always coincide with those of the planning authority or his immediate neighbours. Richard deployed a number of sharp practices in connection with this purchase to circumvent likely objections (see paragraph ‎86). Those practices included purchasing the land in Valerie’s name rather than his own.

Adam started at Liverpool University in 1980. He graduated with a BA honours degree in Geography and Biology in 1984. While Adam was at university, Richard was convicted of perverting the course of justice and reckless driving on 1 November 1983 and sentenced to 12 months in prison. Adam took on a leading role at the Farm while Richard was in prison, working extremely hard to combine this work with his academic studies.

Richard was released from prison in 1984. There was tension between Richard and Adam following his release described in more detail in paragraph ‎100. Following an argument in 1985, Adam left the farm to take a job as a kitchen designer in Liverpool. However, a reconciliation followed shortly thereafter and Adam returned to work on the Farm. In paragraphs ‎102 to ‎105 I make factual findings on the circumstances that persuaded Adam to return.

In 1986, Adam acquired a three-acre plot of land at Marthall Mill from Richard and, after a tussle with the planning authorities, obtained planning permission to build his house there which was completed in around 1994. These circumstances are the subject of detailed factual findings in paragraphs ‎107 and ‎108 below.

On 24 April 1987, Richard transferred 49 Hough Lane to Richard Harry. He did so hoping that Richard Harry would stay at the Farm and could build a house there. However, there were difficulties in securing the necessary planning permission and Richard Harry ultimately left the Farm following an argument with Richard. Certain aspects of later transactions involving 49 Hough Lane are disputed and are the subject of findings in paragraphs ‎138 to ‎144 below.

In 1988, Adam purchased Beech Farm Marthall at auction for £32,010, funding that purchase with a bank loan. He subsequently sold Beech Farm Marthall to Richard for £32,500 in 1993. Adam’s case is that he gave £30,000 of the sale proceeds to Richard to enable him to settle a tax liability. That is disputed and the transactions in Beech Farm Marthall are the subject of specific findings in paragraphs ‎135 to ‎137 below.

On 30 November 1988, Richard granted the first tenancy (the 1988 Tenancy) that is at issue in the Sham Tenancies Claim. That tenancy was, or purported to be, of a total of 145 acres of land at Moat Hall Farm comprising Bin Field, Front Field, Moat Croft, Oliver’s Field, Middle Field, and Egerton Field. The annual rent expressed to be payable was £7500.

In March 1989, Richard sold the farmhouse at Moat Hall Farm and moved into a bungalow (the Bungalow) at Pear Tree Farm.

Adam met Melanie in the autumn of 1990 and they were married on 1 October 1994. They went on to have three children: Hannah born in June 1997, James born in March 1999 and Sophie born in February 2004.

In 1992, Adam injured his back in a car accident. Shortly thereafter he stopped working full-time at the Farm and took a job at an estate agents in Macclesfield (Bridgfords). In 1993, he moved into the financial services division of Bridgfords which put prospective homebuyers in touch with prospective lenders in return for a commission. Adam’s starting salary at Bridgfords was £6,000 per year with a £30 commission payable for each of his sales that proceeded to exchange of contracts. After he moved into the financial services division, his basic salary increased to £8,000 per year with commission payable in addition.

On 31 January 1993, Richard granted or purported to grant Adam the second tenancy that is at issue in the Sham Tenancies Claim (the 1993 Tenancy). The 1993 Tenancy was expressed to be over some 12.6 acres at Beech Farm Marthall in return for an annual rent of £600.

By 1993, Richard’s romantic relationship with Valerie had come to an end and she moved out of the Bungalow. Richard met Jennifer in or around August 1993.

In 1994, Richard and Richard Harry had a serious argument that resulted in Richard Harry leaving the Farm and not speaking to his father for several years. At or around this time Adam left his job in Bridgfords and returned to working full-time on the Farm. The circumstances that led to Adam returning to the Farm are considered in paragraphs ‎110 to ‎120 below.

Between late 1994 and early 1995, Richard and Adam entered into a partnership whose business involved running car boot sales on various fields at the Farm. I refer to the partnership, its business and individual car boot sales generically as the “car boot” which was the expression that Richard, Adam and others in the family used at the time. The car boot became very successful with some findings as to its profits, and how those profits were split, set out in paragraphs ‎146 to ‎156.

On 23 June 1995, soon after Gordon was born, Richard made the 1995 Will. The terms of the 1995 Will are considered in paragraph ‎114. However, by way of very broad overview the 1995 Will sought to keep the Farm intact and gave Adam a central role in the future of the Farm by granting him tenancies and the right to purchase the Farm at probate value.

In around 1998, Richard converted two tractor sheds close to the Bungalow for the purpose of starting a bed & breakfast business (the B&B). Valerie returned to the Farm to help to run the B&B. There is a factual dispute as to who was entitled to profits of the B&B business between 1998 and 2011 when the business was acquired by Moat Hall Motel Limited which is addressed in paragraphs ‎183 to ‎184 below.

In May 1998, Cheshire County Council (the Council) required Richard to remove waste dumped on Giantswood within nine months. That marked the beginning of a protracted dispute with the Council that caused Richard real anxiety. Richard and Adam contemplated an underhand solution to the issue that involved moving the waste to the nearby Verlux Land hoping that, since the Verlux Land was owned by an offshore company, the Council would be powerless to take action. However, they never implemented that plan since the Council was ultimately persuaded to permit the waste to remain on Giantswood provided that it was incorporated into the construction of a fishing pool. As part of that arrangement, Richard transferred Giantswood to Adam in 2002 for a consideration of £500. Fuller findings on this important episode are set out in paragraphs ‎157 to ‎173 below.

Between the date of the 1995 Will and the date of the 2003 Will, Richard had four more children with Jennifer in addition to Gordon: Zoe, Beatrice, William and Connie. The invalid 2003 Will made provision for all of Richard’s children with Jennifer. The terms of the 2003 Will were significantly different from those of the 1995 Will. In particular, it did not seek to preserve the Farm intact and did not give Adam the central role that he enjoyed pursuant to the 1995 Will. It is a matter of significant dispute whether the 2003 Will represented Richard’s true testamentary intentions and whether Richard told Adam about it at or around the time he made it. Findings on these issues are set out in paragraphs ‎121 to ‎127 below.

By the time of the invalid 2007 Will, Richard and Jennifer had had two further children: Lewis and Angus. Similar issues arise in relation to the invalid 2007 Will which had a similar structure to the 2003 Will, albeit with somewhat different detailed terms.

In 2010, Adam and Melanie separated. They divorced in 2012. Adam and Richard between them sought to hide some of Adam’s assets from Melanie hoping that this would result in Adam having to pay a lower amount by way of divorce settlement. Instances of this behaviour are set out in paragraph ‎153 and ‎162 below.

In 2010, the Council published the Local Plan Strategy for Cheshire East 2010-2030 (the Local Plan) that identified part of Giantswood as being suitable for development for housing and industrial use. Publication of the Local Plan did not of itself mean that Giantswood would be developed, but the value of Giantswood increased because of the likelihood that it would.

In 2011, Richard started to suffer from disrupted speech. It took some time for doctors to diagnose Richard’s condition correctly. Initially, it was thought that he had a language presentation of Alzheimer’s disease. However, it ultimately became clear that he was actually suffering from fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) with progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA). Findings as to Richard’s medical condition, and the various diagnoses and mis-diagnoses that were made, are set out in paragraphs ‎243 to ‎262.

In late 2011, the B&B business was acquired by Moat Hall Motel Limited, a company of which Adam was the sole director and shareholder.

On 2 July 2012, Richard made lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) giving Adam and Jennifer the power to act on his behalf in relation to both health/welfare and property affairs. The LPAs were registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

On 6 September 2013, in response to various incidents of erratic behaviour, at Adam’s instigation, Richard’s GP, together with a psychiatrist (Dr Kumar), the police and two nurses visited Richard at the Bungalow to assess whether he should be sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1988. Richard was not sectioned. Richard was angry and upset when he discovered that Adam was behind the attempt to have him sectioned.

In 2013 and 2014, Richard made a number of invalid home-made Wills in substantially similar form. These Wills contained different terms from the 2003 Will and 2007 Will but, like those Wills, did not confer on Adam the central role that he had under the 1995 Will such as the right to a tenancy of the Farm or the right to purchase the Farm at probate value.

On 23 December 2013, Adam took a copy of one of these Wills to Napthens solicitors (Napthens) to request advice on whether Richard was entitled, as Adam saw it, to resile from promises that he had made during his lifetime. Napthens advised that Adam could not bring a proprietary estoppel claim during Richard’s lifetime. It was common ground before me that this advice was incorrect and that the fact that Richard was still alive did not preclude a claim.

Adam’s concerns about Richard’s mental state continued. In July 2015, he contacted Richard’s GP and social services saying that Richard was being violent to Jennifer and her children. That led to an investigation by the social services which was eventually closed, but Richard and Jennifer’s children were placed on a safeguarding register for a period. Richard was angry with Adam for reporting him to the social services in this way.

In 2016, Jennifer and Richard decided to marry. They fixed on a date of 1 April 2016. However, the wedding did not go ahead on that date because Adam expressed concerns about Richard’s mental capacity. The wedding did go ahead some three weeks later on 22 April 2016 with the registrar of marriages being satisfied that Richard had capacity.

On 25 April 2016, Richard sent a letter to the OPG revoking the LPAs he had given to Adam and Jennifer (see paragraph ‎47 above). He would eventually replace these LPAs with new LPAs granted to Jennifer and Gordon which were registered with the OPG on 27 January 2017.

Jennifer and her children moved into the Bungalow in May 2016. At or around this time, Adam gave Richard notice that he wished to dissolve the car boot partnership. Richard also made the May 2016 Will following meetings with Mrs Kate Sutherland of Beswick’s solicitors. All parties agree that the May 2016 Will is valid.

Sometime in 2016, after Richard and Jennifer got married, Moat Hall Motel Limited was dissolved. In early 2017, the B&B business became owned by a different company, Chelford B&B Limited. Chelford B&B Limited had 12 shares in issue, with Richard, Jennifer and Gordon holding four shares each. Richard, Jennifer and Gordon were the three directors of Chelford B&B Limited.

In June 2016, Adam issued proceedings in the Court of Protection seeking a determination that Richard lacked capacity to manage his own affairs.

Throughout 2016, there were disputes between Richard (and Jennifer) and Adam that eventually became litigious. Jennifer and Richard believed that Adam was trespassing on Richard’s property and misappropriating his farm machinery. In August 2016, Geoffrey Cogan (Mr Cogan) of Storrar Cowdry agreed to act for Richard in connection with that dispute and sent a letter to Adam’s solicitors requiring Adam to cease the conduct complained of.

On 5 August 2016, Adam applied to be registered as proprietor of the Verlux Land by way of adverse possession. That application was successful and he was registered as proprietor with possessory title in February 2017.

In September and December 2016, Richard had discussions with Mrs Sutherland, a paralegal, about what was to become the September 2016 Will and the December 2016 Will. Mrs Sutherland made notes of some of her discussions with Richard and findings as to her views on Richard’s capacity at these times are set out in paragraphs ‎275 to ‎277 below.

The Court of Protection proceedings required that there be an independent assessment of Richard’s mental capacity. That assessment was performed by Professor Burns on 19 November 2016. Professor Burns concluded in his report of 2 December 2016 (the 2016 Burns Report) that Richard had sufficient capacity to manage his own property and affairs. Conclusions on the competing expert opinions of Professor Burns and Dr Series as to Richard’s mental capacity are set out in paragraphs ‎301 to ‎310 below.

On 27 July 2017, the Council formally adopted the Local Plan. This resulted in a further increase in the value of Giantswood since the prospects of development increased further.

Richard died on 3 June 2018.

In February 2021, Adam sold 35 acres of Giantswood to a developer for £8,750,000. Findings on this increase in Giantswood’s value are set out in paragraphs ‎171 to ‎173.