STARING at the letter Alex and Tom Renny couldn’t believe their eyes.
The couple had been left a share of a £4.2 million estate by Maureen Renny, 82, a step-grandmother the couple had never even met after she passed away in January 2020.
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But what started out as a dream come true quickly became a nightmare for the couple as a cruel fraudster attempted to con them out of their fortune.
Maureen’s home, Hill House, in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, had been The Barn School until 1998, which she had been the headmistress of.
Alex, 31, and Tom, 31, had “no idea” they were in Maureen’s will, and the “life-changing” inheritance of around £200,000 went towards their dream home.
However the Renny’s were informed by solicitors that a woman called Leigh Voysey, 46, a former student at The Barn School, had come forward and claimed that Maureen had re-written the will in secret – leaving everything to her.
A three-year legal battle ensued – also involving two people who claimed to have witnessed Maureen signing the new will – with Leigh even filing a civil suit against the Renny family, they said.
Despite being put through huge psychological and financial stress, Tom and Alex were determined to get justice and Leigh Voysey eventually pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery at St Albans Crown Court in October 2024, and was handed a six-and-a-half year jail sentence.
Her accomplices Amber Collingwood, 44, and Ben Mayes, 42, were also sent down after admitting to forgery.
Tom kept a diary throughout their nightmare ordeal, which the couple has now published to raise awareness of inheritance scams and act as a warning to others.
Thankfully Tom and Alex’s house is now safe and proceedings are still ongoing for them to get the money back.
Alex, an HR consultant, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, says: “It felt so cruel to be given that life changing money, only for it to be taken away so quickly.
“We knew that there was no way that this woman was telling the truth, but proving that was going to take a lot of time and money.
“It took a huge toll on our mental health, and we often wished we’d never been left any inheritance in the first place.
“But we knew that we couldn’t give up.
“If we had, we’d have to sell our house, which we’d already put so much time and our own savings into.
“We also knew that we couldn’t give up for Maureen – it would be an insult to her legacy if a fraudster walked away with all her money.”
Tom’s step-grandmother, Maureen, had been married to his grandfather Murray Renny, who passed away in December 2000.
Maureen went on to leave Tom and Alex 5% of her £4.5million estate when she passed away in 2020.
The rest was split between other relatives and hundreds of thousands of pounds was left to charities – including multiple animal charities, a children’s charity, RAF cadets and Water Aid.
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Maureen’s will had been professionally written and signed off by solicitors in 2016, before her death in 2020.
Alex and Tom sold their house and used the proceeds, along with their share of the inheritance, to purchased and renovate a property costing £270,000 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Alex explains: “I’d never met her, so it was a huge surprise.
“We didn’t expect to have been left anything, and we were so grateful to be given such a life changing amount of money.
“It felt like we’d been given an opportunity that most people our age wouldn’t have, and we could suddenly do more with our lives.”
Using some of their inheritance and their own savings, the couple purchased the three-bedroom home and began renovations.
It was all consuming – and no matter how hard we tried, we’d always end up talking about the case
Alex Renny
Two months later, Leigh Vorsey came forward and claimed that the estate should be left to her.
She was a former head girl at Maureen’s school and claimed to have had a good relationship with Maureen when they reconnected in later life.
The legal letters claimed Leigh had actually been left Maureen’s full estate, in an updated will which Maureen had signed in secret because she feared her family would sell her home to developers.
The signing of the will had allegedly been witnessed by two of her friends, Amber, a security guard, and Ben, whose occupation is unknown – who claimed to have found the ‘new will’ on her bedside table.
A challenge on their entitlement to her inheritance left Alex and Tom fearing they’d lose their house.
How to protect yourself from scams
BY keeping these tips in mind, you can avoid getting caught up in a scam:
- Firstly, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it normally is.
- Check brands are “verified” on Facebook and Twitter pages – this means the company will have a blue tick on its profile.
- Look for grammatical and spelling errors; fraudsters are notoriously bad at writing proper English. If you receive a message from a “friend” informing you of a freebie, consider whether it’s written in your friend’s normal style.
- If you’re invited to click on a URL, hover over the link to see the address it will take you to – does it look genuine?
- To be on the really safe side, don’t click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.
- Be careful when opening email attachments too. Fraudsters are increasingly attaching files, usually PDFs or spreadsheets, which contain dangerous malware.
- If you receive a suspicious message then report it to the company, block the sender and delete it.
- If you think you’ve fallen for a scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use its online fraud reporting tool.
Alex said: “No one close to Maureen had ever heard of Leigh.
“We had to pause the work on our home and couldn’t use our own savings in case we had to pay back the inheritance we’d already used.
“We’d already spent £60,000 on the deposit and renovations.
“It was all consuming – and no matter how hard we tried, we’d always end up talking about the case.
“We were pretty confident that we would win, because it was such a ridiculous lie.
“But then doubt would creep in, and sometimes the anxiety got the better of me, and I was terrified that we’d lose our home.”
In order to prove that Leigh was lying, the family paid for forensic will analysts to prove that the new will was forged, as well as private doctors to prove that even if the will was legit, Maureen was not of sound mind if she had signed it.
All three fraudsters changed their pleas to guilty a week into their criminal trial at St Albans Crown Court in October 2024.
At the sentencing, Amber Collingwood was sentenced to three years and six months and Ben Mayes received two years six months, both for forgery.
It was such a relief to have justice, but I do have mixed emotions
Alex Renny
As well as receiving six-and-a-half years for fraud and forgery, Leigh Voysey – who has a young daughter – was slapped with almost £200,000 of legal fees.
Despite the “huge relief” after finally getting justice, Alex admitted she “felt sorry” for the fraudster.
She says: “It was such a relief to have justice, but I do have mixed emotions.
“Leigh has a young daughter, and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to have her mum in prison.
“It just all feels so pointless.”
Alex and Tom now want to put their energy into getting the law changed to prevent others being scammed through false will claims.
Alex said: “Tom kept a diary throughout the process, and we’ve decided to turn it into a book called ‘Inheritance Hell’ .
“The book details everything we’ve been through, and we hope it will raise awareness of inheritance scams and act as a warning to others.
“Since publishing the book, we’ve had members of the public contact us to say they’re going through similar things and reading the book makes things clearer and gives them hope.
“We hope that something positive can come out of this terrible experience and that the laws can be examined regarding homemade wills, the judicial process and probate.
“Now all we can do is try to re-build our lives and put our energy into getting the law changed to prevent others from being scammed through false will claims.”
You can purchase the book here
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