Daughter overturns bequest of parents' farm to rspca

A university lecturer whose parents left their £2 million estate to the RSPCA wept with relief yesterday after she won her legal battle to overturn the will.

Christine Gill, 58, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said the will, which left her parents' 287-acre farm to the charity, "should never have been made".

The judgment, handed down at a High Court hearing in Leeds, found that Dr Gill's "domineering" father had coerced her mother into making the will, despite her "avowed dislike" of the charity.

Judge James Allen QC said it would be "unconscionable" if Dr Gill did not inherit Potto Carr Farm, near Northallerton, where she voluntarily helped out during her spare time over a period of more than 30 years.

Speaking outside the court after the judgment, Dr Gill was visibly emotional and told reporters she was "shaking" and "about to burst into tears".

She said: "I've always believed that we would win (the farm back) and that conviction carried me through.

"The will was not just, there was nothing right about it. I think it's a will which should never have been made."

Dr Gill said she was relieved and happy she had won the case but was concerned about the costs, which were thought to be in the region of £1.3 million.

The two sides spent the day in court arguing over who should pay these costs, with much of the legal debate centred on what opportunities were available to settle before the lengthy and costly trial.

Judge Allen was told how Dr Gill's husband, Andrew Baczkowski, wrote to the Queen, who is a patron of the RSPCA, "begging" for her help in the dispute.

Dr Baczkowski's letter asked the Queen to intervene to make the society negotiate, saying they would have to sell the property and his wife's "heart screamed out against it".

He also sent letters to other well-known patrons, including the Arch-bishop of Canterbury.