An ‘unusual’ probate claim ended in farce as a woman who was falsely declared dead has appeared in court via video from her home in Nigeria to challenge fraudsters who registered a power of attorney over her estate to take ownership of her property.
The case centred around June Ashimola who left the UK for Nigeria in 2018. A power of attorney (PoA) registered over the estate, which largely consisted of the £350,000 property in London, was granted four years later to Ruth Samuel on behalf of Bakare Lasisi, the defendant’s alleged husband.
It was claimed Lasisi married Ashimola in 1993; and she had died in Africa in 2019 without leaving a Will.
The case was heard in the High Court by judge John Linwood, who was presented with a copy of the alleged death certificate and told sightings of Ashimola were a woman ‘masquerading’ as the defendant. Emails claiming to be from Ashimola’s husband were also presented by Ashikodi, who was jailed for three years in 1996 for obtaining property by deception.
But in a bizarre twist Ashimola appeared via video link to dispel any evidence of her death, saying the certificate was “false and fraudulent” and the PoA had been “improperly” obtained. The death certificate’s authenticity had not been proven ‘to the necessary standard.’ Only a copy was provided to the court and Lindwoos said there was ‘no evidence… it was a genuine document evidencing a real event.’
She was unable to attend in person due to visa restrictions but convinced the court she was indeed June Ashimola, had not been married to Bakare Lasisi and the marriage certificate was “a concocted or fraudulent document.” Indeed the judges went on the say Lasisi himself have been the victim of identity fraud if he even existed at all.
In the judgement Linwood ruled the death certificate was a forgery and revoked the PoA, but took the opportunity to admonish the parties for ‘disproportionate’ legal costs of more than £150,000, which could exceed the equity in the property.
