Fraudster who tried to cheat family out of inheritance ordered to pay back more than £10,000

A Pulham St Mary couple who tried to cheat their family out of its rightful inheritance with a forged will have been ordered to pay back more than £16,000.

Nigel Crisp, 63, of Norwich Road, forged a handwritten will of his father Robert, who died in 2011, leaving his estate, worth more than £100,000, to his wife Jennifer, 58.

Norwich Crown Court heard that in fact Robert Crisp had left his estate to his sister-in-law and the rest to his grandson Stephen, who is Nigel Crisp's son, in his true final will.

But after forging the new will, which he claimed to have found in a drawer, Nigel Crisp got his wife to use it to collect about £10,000 from his late father's bank account.

He was in the process of trying to sell his father's home, which was valued at about £135,000, when family members raised concerns and police were contacted and he and his wife were arrested.

In July this year, Nigel Crisp was sentenced to 22 months, suspended for two years, after he admitted making a false instrument.

His wife, who admitted using a false instrument, was given a three-month sentence suspended for nine months and a supervision order.

On Monday, the couple was back in court for a confiscation hearing to claw back some of the cash they had taken.

Nick Methold, prosecuting, said that Nigel Crisp should pay back £10,580 and Jennifer Crisp £6,000.

Michael Clare, for Nigel Crisp, said that his assets had all been frozen since the matter had come to light and said that the payment should be just an administrative matter.

Recorder Michael Evans ordered that Nigel Crisp should pay £10,580 or face a further 12 months in jail in default.

Jennifer Crisp was ordered to pay £6,000 or face six months in jail in default.

Mr Evans said the money should be paid as a compensation order so that it went to rightful beneficiaries of the late father's will.