Frail pensioner, 73, is jailed for forging her partner’s will

A frail pensioner has been jailed for forging her partner’s will to cheat his sisters out of £420,000 – after being imprisoned for doing the same to an ex-boyfriend.    

Anne Kermode-Hutchinson, 73, was jailed for three years and nine months for drawing up a fake will pretending that her partner George Hayes had left his estate to her.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that she had tried to use the fake document to replace his genuine will which left everything to his sisters after his death.

Kermode-Hutchinson was earlier jailed for 18 months in 2015 for pretending that a man who was a former boyfriend had given her his bungalow before he died.

Judge David Pugh told her that there were ‘remarkable similarities’ between the two cases.

He also described her latest crime as ‘sophisticated’ and said she did not appear to be remorseful.

Kermode-Hutchinson of Mildenhall, Suffolk, who walked into court with the aid of a Zimmer frame, admitted two offences of fraud by false representation.

The court heard that Mr Hayes had left an estate worth £423,271 made up of his £185,000 home and shares after he died from a stroke on October 24, 2019.

His will drawn up in 2009 left everything to his sisters Carol Murrell and Shirley Bird, despite him being in a ‘loving and affectionate’ relationship with Kermode-Hutchinson since 2001.

Kermode-Hutchinson was said to have used special software to draw up her faked will and took it to Bendall & Sons solicitors in Mildenhall five days after he died.

The firm refused to accept the document and she returned with more paperwork which was also rejected, said prosecutor Benedict Peers.

Kermode-Hutchinson then took her fake will to Fairhurst Menuhin & Co solicitors in Newmarket, but they also would not accept it and police were contacted.

The court heard she had been jailed in October 2015 for falsely claiming that her former partner David Hutchinson had had left her his bungalow in Red Lodge, Suffolk.

She claimed that she had been given the property by Mr Hutchinson to pay off an alleged debt before he died in September 2013.

Kermode-Hutchinson presented a solicitor in Bury St Edmunds with a fake tenancy agreement showing that he had been renting the property back from her before his death.

The solicitor was suspicious about apparent inconsistencies and the police were contacted.

Kermode-Hutchinson had denied fraud, but was found guilty after a trial at Ipswich Crown Court where a judge described her as ‘manipulative and deeply dishonest’.

He trial was told that Mr Hutchinson had once drawn up a will leaving his property to her and his two sons, but he cut her out after his relationship with her ended in 2011.

Laura Kenyon, defending, said Kermode-Hutchinson had ‘little or no prospect of success’ in her latest fraud and described her as ‘highly vulnerable’.

She said her client had been in a romantic relationship with Mr Hayes and they had lived in his home as husband and wife.

Ms Kenyon added: ‘Marriage was discussed but never came to fruition. She went about this in the wrong way, but would have been entitled to have had some claim for support.’

She said Kermode-Hutchinson had recently suffered a fractured hip and shoulder, and would struggle in prison.

The court heard that she had 18 previous convictions including for offences of dishonesty dating back to 1990.

She was said to have previously used at least 17 different names and three dates of birth to try and cover up her crimes.