Millionaire alcoholic's will ruled valid after he leaves fortune to friend
A Mid Wales millionaire who drank himself to death knew what he was doing when he left the lion's share of his fortune to his friend and business partner, a judge has ruled.
Philip Hopkins, who made his pile manufacturing cattle grids, was "not a domesticated person" and drink cost him his life at the age of 59.
By the time he died in September 2014, his estate was worth more than £1 million, most of which went to his friend, Gary Edkins.
Mr Hopkins' widow and three sons accused Mr Edkins of bringing "undue influence" to bear on an alcoholic.
But Judge Milwyn Jarman QC ruled Mr Hopkins' will, signed three months before his death, was valid.
The tycoon was in a desperately vulnerable state at the time and it was possible that Mr Edkins had some "control" over him.
But Mr Hopkins felt his relationship with his wife, Dorothy, and sons, Richard, Alistair and Colin, was "strained" at the time, which moved the judge to rule his "free volition" had not been "overpowered by a drip, drip approach or otherwise".
He said Mr Hopkins wanted the business named after him to continue after his death and "Mr Edkins looked the best prospect of fulfilling that wish".
Judge Jarman concluded: "I am satisfied that in making the provisions he did in the 2014 will, Mr Hopkins acted as a free agent.
"It is likely that he did so with the encouragement or even persuasion of Mr Edkins but I am satisfied he did not cross the line so as to rob him of his judgment."
Mr Hopkins' 79 per cent shareholding in Newtown-based Hopkins Steel Ltd was worth more than £800,000 when he died.
He lived in a flat in Plas Maldwyn, Ty Gwyn Road, Caersws, near Newtown, and also had a villa on the Caribbean isle of St Kitts, worth £700,000.
By his will, signed in June 2014, he left his shares to Mr Edkins – his colleague for more than 20 years – and his flat to his widow. Mr Edkins also inherited 75 per cent of the rest of his estate.
