Shropshire Star

Former Shropshire businessman killed in seaplane crash ‘leaves £41 million’ to Oxfam

A former Shropshire businessman who was killed in a plane crash near Sydney on New Year’s Eve has left £41 million to Oxfam after changing his will, according to reports.

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Richard Cousins

Richard Cousins, who lived in Wellington, Telford during the 1980s, died in a seaplane along with his two sons, fiancée Emma Bowden, and her daughter while on a dream holiday to Australia.

Mr Cousins, who was chief executive of contract catering group Compass, is believed to have originally intended leaving his wealth to sons William, 25, and Edward, 23.

However, a year before the tragedy he drew up a new will which included a “common tragedy clause” that would come into force if he and his sons were all killed together.

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All but £3 million of his fortune went to Oxfam, with his brothers Simon and Andrew getting £1 million each.

Mr Cousins used to bat for Wellington Cricket Club’s second team when he lived in the town in the 1980s and was also chairman of the club’s cricket committee for several years.

He moved to Slough to take up a new job in 1990.

At the time of his death, Mr Cousins was planning to watch the fifth Ashes test at Sydney.

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver floatplane being recovered from Jerusalem Bay (ATSB/PA)

The charity confirmed it had had been left money by Mr Cousins, but declined to reveal how much.

A spokesman for the charity said they were “extremely grateful” for the bequest.

The money will have a huge impact on Oxfam’s funds. In its last annual report for 2016-17, the charity received £19.8m in gifts left to it through wills.

“It is the kind of bequest that charities dream of,” a source told a national newspaper.

“There will rightly be heavy scrutiny of how the money is spent.”

The charity had been forced to cut back on its overseas programmes due to the financial fall-out from a sex scandal.

A piece of debris is recovered from the crash

Oxfam GB had been struggling to win back the confidence of the public, the UK government and its donors following allegations that members of its staff had sex with prostitutes during a relief mission after an earthquake hit Haiti in 2010.

It emerged in June that the charity was cutting back some of its work after warning staff it needed to find £16 million of savings as a result of the controversy.

Mr Cousins had been due to step down as chief executive of Compass in March after more than a decade in the role.

He and Miss Bowden, who was the art editor for OK! magazine and daughter of Conservative MP Gerry Bowden, were to get married this summer.

The couple, who had sent out their wedding invitations just days before flying off on their Christmas and New Year holiday, lived together with Heather in Tooting, south London.

Mr Cousin’s first wife, Caroline, died from cancer in 2015.

Last year, legacy income accounted for £2.8 billion of the nearly £10 billion donated by the British public to charitable causes, making it the largest single source of voluntary income to the charity sector.

Australian pilot Gareth Morgan was also killed in the crash, which was said to have followed the plane leaving its flightpath and making an “inexplicable turn”.

All six died when the seaplane – which belonged to a firm running sightseeing tours – plunged into a river 30 miles north of the Australian city.

An inquest in the UK found the family had died from a combination of multiple injuries and drowning, calling it a “tragic accident”.

An Oxfam spokesman said: “We are extremely grateful for this bequest of which we have only recently been notified.

“We are working with the family and our board of trustees to identify how the money will be used.”