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Farmer with RSPCA will 'could be crazy'
A FARMER who cut his daughter out of a £2.34m will "could be crazy," a worker he sacked for having a holiday said.
Leeds University lecturer Dr Christine Gill, 58, has launched a High Court challenge after her parents' 270 acre farm estate was left to the RSPCA.
The hearing yesterday heard from witness Geoffrey Hansell, a contract farmer who knew Christine Gill's father John from 1975 until his death aged 82 in 1999.
Mr Hansell said in his witness statement that Mr Gill could be perfectly pleasant but could also be very "awkward and eccentric".
He added: "I spoke to Mrs Gill a few times but she was very very reclusive. I worked for them for nine years or more so I met her but never set foot in the house."
Mr Hansell said in 1985 Mr Gill sacked him for having a week's holiday. "He could be crazy," added Mr Hansell. "The harvest was when I should have been away so I decided not to go.
"Instead I decided to (go] skiing in winter when there was not much happening on the farm.
"A few days after I had booked, Mr Gill said he did not think I should go. I told him I had already paid. I went anyway.
"When I returned home there was a letter from him saying that due to my conduct I was being sacked. I took Mr Gill to a tribunal over it. He stood up in court and said I could have my job back."
Mr Hansell said he could not believe it when he heard the farm had not been left to Christine.
Mr Hansell said John Gill did not have links with the RSPCA as far as he knew.
Frightened
When asked if Mr Gill was sentimental about animals, Mr Hansell said he was fond of his dog but was not sentimental although he cared for his stock.
Brian Noble, a fencing contractor who did casual work for Mr Gill, said: "I only spoke to Mrs Gill a few times on the phone as she was frightened to speak to people. She used to hide if she saw me coming."
He added: "When I read about the farm being left to the RSPCA I could not believe it. In the time I worked for him, everything that Mr Gill did and said had led me to believe that he wanted the farm to go to Christine."
Mrs Gill, an only child, claims her mother knew nothing of the wills signed by her and husband John in 1993 in relation to Potto Carr Farm, in the North York Moors near Northallerton.
Unknown to Dr Gill, the 1993 wills had left her parents' estate to each other and then to the RSPCA if they both died. She only found out after her mother died in 2006.
The hearing at Leeds Crown Court has been told Dr Gill, of Northallerton, believes her mother would have been coerced into signing the will by her father.
Proceeding
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Friday 25 May 2012
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