GUILTY UK - Couple allegedly starved wealthy landlord to death to steal part of his $6.2 million fortune

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‘Greedy’ couple allegedly starved man

A “greedy” couple allegedly starved their live-in landlord to death in order to steal part of his £3.5 million ($A6.2 million) estate after forging his will, a jury heard today.


Lynda and Wayne Rickard moved into a multimillion pound farmhouse owned by James “Anthony” Sootheran in 2006 and planned to plunder his estate, Reading Crown Court heard.

Mother-of-three Lynda Rickard, 62, had previously admitted forging the will of his elderly mother Joy – where she was set to gain half of her almost £1.5 million ($A2.7 million) estate.

Similarly, she confessed to forging the will of the pensioner’s only son Anthony, who had complex mental health needs, where she stood to inherit a third of his £3.5 million ($A6.2 million) estate when he died.
 
  • #2
Anthony Sootheran: 'Brazen' plot to steal millionaire's fortune

Lynda Rickard, who has been found guilty of the murder of Anthony Sootheran, posed as his "special friend". To the outside world, the former social worker appeared to be caring for her wealthy live-in landlord. In reality she was depriving him of food and medical care in order to hasten his death and steal his fortune.

Mr Saxby said her American-born husband Wayne - a "see no evil, hear no evil defendant" - failed to intervene as their landlord wilted away.

However, he said Mr Rickard, 66, who has been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of vulnerable adult, was in "close proximity... over the period Anthony declined".
 
  • #3

The husband of a murderer who starved her landlord to death to inherit part of his £3.5m estate has failed to have his conviction and sentence overturned.

Wayne Rickard, 67, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years in June, in part for allowing Anthony Sootheran's death at his Oxfordshire farm in 2014.

His wife, Lynda, 63, was jailed for at least 28 years for murder and fraud at the same trial at Reading Crown Court.

Mr Rickard's appeals were dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
 

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