Pring ‘murder’ case to be heard in October next year
The England and Wales High Court has declined to order Barry Pring’s widow to account for her use of his funds just before his suspicious death in the Ukraine in February 2008.
Pring was killed by a speeding car that has never been traced, and his family believe that his Ukrainian wife, now called Julianna Moore, married him for his money and then had him murdered. Pring died without a Will, and having no children which meant that his wife, Julianna Moore, became entitled to a statutory legacy and life interest in relation to his English estate. Pring’s family are invoking the Forfeiture Act 1982 to prevent Julianna claiming Pring’s English estate. The forfeiture rule operates to preclude a person who has unlawfully killed another from acquiring a benefit in consequence of the killing. (Gregory v Moore and others, 2018 EWHC 2343 Ch).
An inquest into Barry Pring’s death was held in 2017 at which a verdict of unlawful killing was recorded. That verdict was subsequently overturned and a new inquest will be heard in early 2019. After this is over and the Ukrainian police have produced their final report – probably by October next year – the England and Wales High Court will resume its hearing of the case.
Lindsey Sharples is a solicitor in the private client team at Barker Gotelee, Solicitors in Suffolk.
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