Sibling warfare over racehorse breeder’s £55m fortune turns bitter
A millionaire’s oldest sons have been accused of plotting to chop their siblings out of the tycoon’s £55million fortune.
Reg Bond, who made his fortune on a rubber tyre empire earlier than turning his hand to racehorse coaching and breeding, died in March 2021, aged 77.
His 4 youngsters – Graham, Charlie, Mike and Lindsay – are actually preventing in courtroom over the validity of his final will.
The larger-than-life character had given a lot of his fortune away earlier than he died, however handed almost all of his remaining £12.3million to Charlie, 43, and Graham, 51, leaving older brother and sister Mike and Lindsay with simply £325,000 every.
Mike, 52, and Lindsay, 55, are actually preventing their two youthful brothers within the High Court, claiming their father’s last will in 2019 was invalid as a result of he was too in poor health to grasp what he was signing.
But the brothers say their father’s thoughts was tremendous and medical doctors’ data show it.
Charlie Bond and his lawyer spouse Katie Atkinson-Bond, who has been dragged into the row after Mike and Lindsay claimed she was concerned in a plan to maintain the making of Reg’s disputed new will ‘secret’ from them
Reg Bond (pictured), who made his fortune on a rubber tyre empire earlier than turning his hand to racehorse coaching and breeding, died in March 2021, aged 77
Mike and Lindsay have now dragged Charlie’s lawyer spouse Katie Atkinson-Bond into the row, claiming the couple had been each ‘closely concerned’ in a plan to maintain the making of Reg’s disputed new will ‘secret’ from them.
However, attorneys for Charlie and Graham firmly deny any plan and say the proof ‘does not come wherever close to establishing that’ Mrs Atkinson-Bond was closely concerned within the occasions surrounding the willmaking.
London’s High Court heard that Mr Bond made his personal luck and turned misfortune on its head after he was blinded in a single eye by a shard of flying metallic, aged 22, while working as a mechanic.
He used his £350 compensation money for the harm to set himself up in a automobile components enterprise alongside his father, starting from a small storage in Pocklington, Yorkshire, within the Sixties.
That enterprise developed into Bond International Tyres, which over the following a long time Reg constructed up, turning it into one of many UK’s largest wholesalers, promoting over 5 million tyres a 12 months.
As his enterprise grew, he additionally turned his hand to turning into a profitable race horse proprietor and breeder, realising a childhood dream by shopping for his first horse, Bond Boy, in 2002, which went on to win the Steward’s Cup.
He went on to provide a string of winners from his stud farm at Yapham Mill, in Pocklington, together with Monsieur Bond, who received the coveted Duke of York Stakes in 2004.
He additionally made headlines when he paid £125,000 to have his star breeding mare, Forever Bond, mated with unbeaten flat race legend Frankel in 2014.
But tragedy struck in 2010 when Reg was identified with a mind tumour and spouse, Betty, died in 2015.
The courtroom heard that Reg started property planning two years later in 2017, handing over a complete of £43.45m price of shares in R&RC Bond Wholesale Ltd – the household firm behind Bond International – equally to his 4 children as a lifetime present.
Mr Bond’s 4 youngsters – Graham, Charlie, Mike and Lindsay – are preventing in courtroom over the validity of his final will
The present amounted to 80% of Reg’s shares within the firm, and in 2017 he made a will dividing a lot of the remainder of his fortune – amounting to £12.3m, together with the remainder of his shares – equally between his children too, with Charlie getting his horses.
But in 2019, two years earlier than his dying, he made a last will, handing his remaining £11m shareholding within the firm to Charlie and Graham alone.
The remaining £1.3m in his property, together with the horses, was divided equally, leaving Mike and Lindsay with round £325,000 every and their youthful brothers £5.825million every.
Lawyers for Mike and Lindsay Bond say their father did not have a transparent thoughts in November 2019 and ‘lacked testamentary capability’ when he made his final will, highlighting the actual fact he had been affected by a mind tumour since 2010.
They need the courtroom to overrule the 2019 will and reinstate the earlier will from 2017, additionally alleging that his final will is ‘invalid for need of data and approval’.
Last week their barrister Penelope Reed KC made an utility to Master Paul Teverson on the High Court for permission to look private laptops belonging to Charlie Bond’s spouse Katie Atkinson-Bond, regardless of her not being a celebration to the case.
The KC informed the decide that Mrs Atkinson-Bond is suspected of being ‘closely concerned’ in a ‘plan,’ alongside along with her husband, to maintain the brand new will’s making a ‘secret’ from Mike and Lindsay.
Mrs Atkinson-Bond – a fixture at race conferences the place she was usually the goal of photographers because of her glamorous style selections – was in impact her husband’s ‘technical assistant’ because of him combating trendy know-how, Ms Reed informed the courtroom.
‘There was fairly clearly a plan to maintain all the pieces secret from the third and 4th defendants (Mike and Lindsay),’ she claimed.
Mike Bond (pictured) and Lindsay are preventing their two youthful brothers within the High Court
And she added: ‘She was very a lot part of the plan to cowl up what was taking place from the third and 4th defendants.
‘We doubt that anyone would dispute that these are a set of factually complicated probate proceedings, regarding a really precious shareholding price some £11million.’
Asking for permission for a search of Mrs Atkinson-Bond’s laptop computer, she stated: ‘It is cheap and proportionate that the prolonged disclosure be granted. There is a excessive chance of paperwork current that can have probative worth.’
Harry Martin, representing Charlie and Graham, nonetheless denied the allegations and requested the decide to refuse permission for the laptops to be interrogated.
He disputed that Ms Atkinson-Bond was ‘closely concerned’ in processes and communication across the making of the need, saying the proof ‘does not come wherever close to establishing that.’
‘Mr Bond’s Gmail, iPhone and iPad have already been searched,’ he stated.
‘All instantaneous messages between him and his spouse have already been searched – 130,000 paperwork have already been reviewed, taking 65 days of labor.
‘There has been an unlimited quantity of labor carried out already to discharge the claimants’ disclosure obligations. To request fairly a burdensome search of those laptops now just isn’t useful.’
Master Teverson nonetheless granted permission for the laptops to be examined.
He stated: ‘Ms Atkinson-Bond just isn’t a celebration to those proceedings, however is related to them in a variety of respects.
‘I agree that an order ought to be made in relation to the laptops, as a result of there could also be additional paperwork on the laptops which haven’t been disclosed,’ he concluded, ordering a ‘slender search’ of the non-public laptops to be carried out by Ms Atkinson-Bond herself while ‘supervised’ by a lawyer from the opposite facet.
