A RECLUSE pensioner who died alone in a messy flat has left behind a £400,000 fortune for six long-lost relatives.
Jacqueline Davidson, 80, was found in her run-down East London flat in 2019 a week after she died where it’s said she lived in “appalling” conditions.
She had no close relatives to arrange her funeral or read her last Will, according to the Telegraph.
Jacqueline was born in 1939 and spent most of her life in Ilford where she worked as an estate agent before retiring.
But after her death, authorities discovered she had £200,000 in an untouched bank account which, when including the value of her flat, brought the total amount of her estate to £400,000.
Despite being well-off, Jacqueline lived in squalid conditions in her delipidated flat which was said to be in a “terrible state”.
When Finders International, a firm specialising in tracing heirs to property, were called in by Redbridge Council, they discovered the woman had six cousins who were entitled to an equal share of her money.
CEO Danny Curran visited Jacqueline’s flat and said it was “quite shocking and incredibly sad to see how she lived”.
He was told by neighbours that Jacqueline was a “loner” who “kept herself to herself”.
Jacqueline was an only child but her father was one of four boys and her mother had three sisters and one brother.
She is survived by two cousins on her maternal side and four on her paternal side who will now inherent an equal share of her estate.
Ashley Davidson, 76, is one of the beneficiaries and she told the Daily Telegraph that she had not heard from her cousin in more than 50 years and found the news of her passing both “shocking” and “sad”.
She offered to take over Jacqueline’s funeral arrangements and had her buried at a nearby cemetery.
Mr Curran said: “When people die without leaving a Will or who appear to have no known next of kin, the Crown can inherit the estate, although this will not happen for many years.
“We work on cases like Jacqueline Davidson’s to trace the heirs and ensure that people inherit what is rightfully theirs, and we were delighted to find Jacqueline’s relatives.”
