Anthony Hurley
Prosecution calls the next witness - Anthony Hurley, he is the
chairman of financial advisory firm Hurley Partners Ltd. He knew Ms Bailey through her first husband, John Sinfield. He supported her following Mr Sinfield’s death.
He says: “She didn’t think there was a will. We were quite sure there was a will. We asked to look through John’s private papers.
“She was extremely bright, very intelligent, very articulate and on the occasion of john’s death was completely distressed and distraught, she needed quite a lot of help at that time.” Mr Hurley is asked about Ms Bailey’s management of her financial affairs.
He says: “She was prudent, very careful, always worked herself for a living. Enjoyed the benefits of being married to John but certainly contributed fully herself in terms of financial contribution. She was certainly an equal with John during their marriage together.
“She was intelligent enough to know if people were taking advantage of her at all.
“She was comfortably off, living within the income which was produced from the investment we managed and was always careful about touching the capital. 'Always careful ... almost frightened to touch the income'
“I think she had a lot more trust in my judgement than I even realised myself.”
Mr Hurley was unaware he was to be sole executor of her will. He says: “At the time we were discussing the importance of having a will, she did ask me to be an executor, it was a complete surprise to me that I was the sole executor.”
In a July 2014 meeting Mr Hurley says he was told by Ms Bailey she intended to live with and marry Stewart.
“It was a particularly important meeting. During that meeting Helen explained she bought a new property. She was clearly making her relationship with Ian Stewart very much more permanent, that they were going to live together. It was her clear intention that she was going to marry him, without any clear timetable, she felt it was too soon after John’s death.
“She made it quite clear to me what was the intention, that once Mr Stewart sold his property that there would be a contribution to the new property, but it would not be 50 per cent”
Mr Hurley introduced Ms Bailey to solicitor Ms King-Jones. He recalls discussing with Ms Bailey changes to her will in July 2014.
“At that this stage I didn’t know Ian Stewart particularly well. I’d only met Ian once at our house.
“That meeting had taking pace the previous July 2013. I didn’t know a tremendous amount about Ian.”
He said Helen was aware Stewart could not afford the house alone.
“Helen knew that the financial commitment would never be able to be managed by Ian, because he was unable to continue his occupation.“It needed quite a lot of work doing to it.
“She basically said to me: ‘If anything, god forbid happens to me, the one thing I want to make sure is that Ian and the boys have the security of this house.’
“Helen was clear she
wished to marry Ian Stewart, but not completely about the timetable.”
Mr Hurley said he informed Ms Bailey that in the event of her death there would be an inheritance tax bill of around £1.2 million.
He says: “Helen immediately said: ‘We can’t have that.’ I explained to her that for a very small outgoing she was able to arrange an insurance policy. He says he asked her when she planned to marry and she said: ‘I really cannot answer that now, but it would certainly be within the next five years’.”
He told her an insurance policy could be taken out for that period and renewed if necessary.Mr Hurley said that he had no further meetings with Ms Bailey until a financial review meeting in July 2015 at which point it became clear that Ms bailey had sought the
‘interim’ will and was still struggling to come to a decision about what various beneficiaries would receive.
He is asked what action he would have taken if called upon to execute her will. He says he would have used the earlier email summarising her wishes. He says: “In the absence of any other document… I would have fallen back on this document. I would have relied upon this to give me the guidance of how to distribute the funds. But I had no understanding that I was the sole executor.”
Mr Hurley said he had an
“unusual” telephone conversation with Ian Stewart on April 18, 2016. Stewart had been to his office asking to speak to him while Hurley was out.
Mr Hurley said: “By this time I’d got to know Ian Stewart a little better, we’d been to several functions together. He knew how close I was to Helen.”
“Ian said to me directly ‘I’m in a terrible state at the moment and the reason I drove to your office in Surrey was that I wanted to look at you straight in the eye. I’ve looked at Helen’s emails… and ask is Helen staying with you?
“I answered that by saying Helen was not staying with me.”
He adds he would have made it clear that if she was in distress he would have taken her in and told her to get in touch with the police.
Stewart told Mr Hurley about the note he claims was left by Ms Bailey saying she had gone to Broadstairs.
Mr Hurley said: “I always had the feeling that Helen could do something quite exciting in that way. As long as Boris was with her.
“To my mind it was something that was not beyond the realm of possibility. She also did have a great fondness for Broadstairs and Stewart had said to me that that was where she had gone.”
Mr Hurley says he was only aware of
one “minor” outstanding issue around John Sinfield’s businesses. The executor of John Sinfield’s estate had been unable to completely conclude the estate because of dispute with David Jenson, Sinfield’s partner in the Musicscope business. It related to the sale of a BMW worth around £8,000. Mr Hurley says no-one has mentioned the names of people called “
Joe” and “Nick” in relation to Mr Sinfield’s business.
cross-exam
Mr Hurley is being cross-examined. He admits he was not told by Ms Bailey that she was getting married to Stewart.
Mr Hurley confirms he told Ms Bailey that she would be saving around £1 million in inheritance tax on her death “by tying the knot.”
He again acknowledges that Ms Bailey did not tell him he was the sole executor of her will and that it was subject to a discretionary trust. But he says it is “not completely uncommon for executors not to be shown wills.”
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/helen-bailey-murder-trial-week-12531416
(
LitUp's account with extras, jury questions and extra sources are in the previous thread. )
eg
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...yston-11-April-2016-3&p=13109543#post13109543
another ( jurors questions)
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...yston-11-April-2016-3&p=13108989#post13108989
The email from Hurley to Helen:
"An email from the will’s executor, Tony Hurley, to Ms Bailey was read to to the court.
It said: “You specifically wish to ensure that Ian has your share of the main house and the second home in Broadstairs and a capital sum that will ensure he has a very comfortable lifestyle.”"
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/alleged-killer-author-helen-bailey-12533780
crying in the dock
Stewart began sobbing profusely in the dock as Mr Hurley told the court of a discussion they had in the wake of Ms Bailey's disappearance.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...sed-stood-inherit-millions.html#ixzz4XQDO5HOO
