It has been widely reported that Jeff pressured his grandmother, Jessie Gilham, to move out of her home so he could profit from its sale. This is not true. Jeff treated his Nana with love and tried to ensure the wishes contained in his father’s will for her care were met.
A solicitor acting for Helen and Stephen’s estate wrote to the four grandparents advising that Jeff was entitled to 50% of Helen & Stephen’s estates and the remaining 50% would be divided between his grandparents. Three of the grandparents contacted Jeff to advise they did not want to accept their share. They wanted Jeff to have it, to help rebuild his life. Jeff’s solicitor drew up the paperwork to formalise this and a copy was also sent to Jessie Gilham. Jeff and his girlfriend went to see Jessie once to discuss it with her. Their visit was civil and in no way did Jeff try to force Jessie to agree. Jessie indicated that she did not agree with the other three grandparents.
The home that Jessie Gilham lived in was bought and paid for by Jeff’s father, Stephen and was part of his estate. Although Jeff was informed by his solicitors that he was in fact entitled to 100% of his parent’s estate, he was happy for Jessie to stay in the house per his father’s wishes. His father’s will stated:
“Provided my mother Jessie Edith Gilham survives me, I give to my trustee upon trust the property owned by me ….to allow my mother to continue to reside in those premises and to permit her to have the use, occupation and enjoyment thereof during her lifetime, my trustee paying all rates and taxes and other outgoings… I empower my Trustee in her absolute discretion to sell the said property at the request of my mother and to apply the proceeds of such sale towards the purchase or erection of another residence ….and upon the death of my mother… the said property shall fall into and form part of my residuary estate…”
Jeff happily honoured the conditions of his father’s will by:
- Paying Jessie’s utility bills, insurance and maintenance of the home.
- Writing to her solicitor when she moved into a nursing home and offering to sell the home and use the proceeds to fund her new living arrangements. No response was ever received back from Jessie’s solicitors.
Only after Jessie passed away, was the house rented out, and later sold in 2007 to fund the legal costs of Jeff’s first trial.