UK window cleaner who inherited $538,500 from client refuses to hand money back to family

The 83-year-old was declared bankrupt after claiming he had spent or lost the entire fortune. Photo / Getty Images

A retired window cleaner who inherited £300,000 ($538,570) from one of his elderly customers could be jailed after ignoring a judge's order to hand the money back to her family.

Albert Pearce was left the fortune, when 98-year-old Julie Spalding changed her will, bequeathing him her bungalow and £60,000 ($107,714).

In 2014 her nephew, Cecil Bray, 82, successfully challenged the will, and Pearce was told to hand back the full amount, Telegraph UK reports.

But instead, the 83-year-old was declared bankrupt after claiming he had spent or lost the entire fortune.

Now Pearce faces a possible prison sentence after being accused of lying about what he did with the money.

The pensioner from Finchley, in north London, allegedly squirrelled away hundreds of thousands of pounds in various bank accounts, in an attempt to make it appear as if he was broke.

During a hearing at the High Court in London it was alleged that Pearce had kept the money in his family though a "chain of transactions".

But he also accused of lying about losing £300,000 ($538,570), by stating it had been in the boot of his car when it was repossessed.

Spalding, who had no children, had promised to leave her entire estate to her nephew Bray after he gave up work to look after her in 1996.

But in 2005 he claimed she underwent a "series of major personality changes", following a number of falls.

She then ordered Bray out of her home and "excommunicated" him from her life.

Around that time Pearce, who was her window cleaner, became more involved in her life and began to help look after her.

Following her death in 2008, Pearce was the sole benefactor from her will, inheriting almost £300,000.

During a legal challenge, a judge rejected suggestions that Pearce had exercised "undue influence" over Spalding saying there was no evidence of coercion on his part.

But he added that she had "expressly agreed" she would leave her house to Bray when she died and it was right to hold her to her promise.

Pearce was ordered to hand back everything he had received from Spalding's estate, but told the court there was nothing left.

During a hearing at the High Court on Wednesday Pearce was accused of a series contempts of court after he "falsely stated that he had spent all of the money he inherited from Julie Spalding on travelling and gambling".

Benjamin Gray, representing the trustee in Pearce's bankruptcy case, said: "He did not. He retained the money and moved it through the chain of transactions, which were transactions at undervalue and or defrauding creditors."

Gray said Pearce also falsely asserted that, when his car was taken by High Court bailiffs in 2014, it had "approximately £300,000 in cash in the boot".

"That was not true," the barrister added.

The case was adjourned until October to allow Pearce time to seek legal aid.