PENSIONER Jean Snapes, who was left out of her prosperous father's will, has won the right to money from the estate following an appeal court hearing.

Mrs Snapes, 71, of Marlow Bottom, will get £3,000 a year from her father Thomas Hancocks' estate after the court ruling last Friday.

Builder Thomas Hancocks died, aged 87, in September 1985 leaving a plot of land at Knaves Beech, Loudwater, in High Wycombe, estimated to be then worth £100,000. In 1989, his four sons sold the plot, plus other land they had bought adjoining it, to Tesco for £13 million, the court heard. Mrs Snapes got nothing and was left in "straitened" circumstances, Lady Justice Butler-Sloss told the court.

The court heard Mr Hancocks founded a successful building supplies firm, Hancocks Brothers, which was being managed by his four sons, and younger daughter Sally, when he died.

The court heard Mrs Snapes had left home at 19 and her circumstances had always been "somewhat precarious". She had, at one time, been employed by the family firm in a "menial position" on a low wage, the judge was told.

Mr Hancocks left his home and possessions, valued at £80,000, to his widow. When she died, she left Mrs Snapes a legacy of £1,000. Mr Hancocks' estate included the plot of land adjoining the M40, which he left to Hancocks Brothers. Its value leapt from £100,000 to £840,000 before capital gains tax because of the Tesco deal.

Lady Justice Butler-Sloss upheld an earlier court ruling that Mrs Snapes is entitled to £3,000 a year maintenance from the estate.

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