{"id":560501,"date":"2026-05-01T12:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560501\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:19:12","slug":"cider-boss-who-torched-brothers-car-after-will-dispute-handed-875k-bill-from-court-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560501\/","title":{"rendered":"Cider boss who torched brother\u2019s car after will dispute handed \u00a3875k bill from court fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A former cider company boss who torched his mineral water tycoon brother\u2019s car after being left less than him in their parents\u2019 wills has been hit with a massive \u00a3875,000 court bill after suing and losing.<\/p>\n

Alastair Bowerman, 57, went to court after being left a one-third share of the \u00a3230,000 cash his parents left in their wills, whilst brother Ben Bowerman, 60, got cash and their shares in the 460-acre family farm on Dorset\u2019s Isle of Purbeck, which includes a Grade-I listed medieval manor house and is home to a lucrative mineral water spring.<\/p>\n

Jean and John Bowerman, the brothers\u2019 parents, had originally made wills in 1988, splitting their cash between Alastair and third brother David, to balance out the fact that Ben was to be handed the family farm business at Godlingston Manor, near Swanage.<\/p>\n

John\u2019s estate was at the time expected to be boosted by inheritance money from his own father, which he stipulated should also be distributed in a way that favoured Alastair and David.<\/p>\n

The farm is home to a natural mineral water spring exploited through a company which Ben runs, and at one point was the third biggest supplier of water cooler bottles in the country.<\/p>\n

But in 1999, Jean and John both made new wills, handing Ben an equal share of their cash and any cash from John\u2019s father, alongside their remaining shares of the farm business, having already handed him most of it a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Following the death of John in 2004 and Jean in 2012, it became clear that the anticipated inheritance from John\u2019s father had not gone into their estates, leaving them with just \u00a3230,000 together.<\/p>\n

\"BenBen Bowerman received significantly more in his parents\u2019 wills, which were amended in 1999 (Champion News)<\/p>\n

Alastair \u2013 whose Dorset Cider company folded the year after his mum\u2019s death \u2013 became more and more disgruntled over the years about the division of his parents\u2019 wealth, telling lawyers that he \u201cdid not agree with the gift of the farm business\u201d to Ben, making complaints about \u201cincorrect happenings\u201d and suspecting a \u201cconspiracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Relations became so bad between the two brothers that in 2015, Alastair was handed a criminal conviction for arson and hit with a restraining order after \u201csetting fire to Ben\u2019s car\u201d.<\/p>\n

He later alleged that Ben \u201chad committed fraud … and corruption on a massive scale\u201d, in an email to lawyers.<\/p>\n

Last year, he went to London\u2019s High Court and, representing himself in a four-day trial staring in April, sued his two brothers in their roles as executors of their parents\u2019 wills, along with the professional administrator of Jean\u2019s estate, claiming that his dad\u2019s 1999 will was invalid for lack of knowledge and approval and challenging his mum\u2019s on grounds of undue influence by Ben.<\/p>\n

But despite succeeding in his bid to convince Master Julia Clark that his father was too ill to properly understand what he was doing when he changed his will in 1999, Alastair lost his case, having delayed too long before bringing the challenge. His claims regarding his mum\u2019s will were dismissed.<\/p>\n

Now he has been handed an enormous legal costs bill for the action \u2013 wiping out his inheritance many times over \u2013 with Ben\u2019s lawyers demanding more than \u00a3777,000, whilst his brother David and the administrator of Jean\u2019s estate are claiming around another \u00a3100,000 between them.<\/p>\n

The court heard that the 460-acre Godlingston Manor Farm stands on National Trust land within a protected area of outstanding natural beauty, on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset.<\/p>\n

The farm includes a Grade-I listed manor house, with parts dating from 1166, and a lucrative natural mineral water spring.<\/p>\n

\"AlastairAlastair Bowerman now faces a massive bill of nearly \u00a3900,000 after losing his case (Champion News)<\/p>\n

From 1949 until 1994, when John suffered a debilitating stroke, the farm was run as a mixed arable and dairy farm by John in partnership with Jean.<\/p>\n

In light of his ill health in 1998, the couple signed over most of their interest in the farm to Ben, with a smaller share going to the mineral water company, of which he and his wife are now the sole directors.<\/p>\n

In her judgment last November, Master Clark explained how the dispute between the brothers grew after John and Jean decided to change their wills in 1999 to also give Ben an equal share of their cash, as well as their remaining shares in the farm business.<\/p>\n

As well as the stroke, John also had intermittent episodes of heart failure, which saw him hospitalised.<\/p>\n

It was around the time of one of these episodes that he signed his new will, although he had previously discussed and drafted its contents with his solicitors.<\/p>\n

After the death of his father, Alastair began to make it clear he was unhappy about the division of the family wealth and over the next decade contacted lawyers several times seeking advice.<\/p>\n

Relations grew so bad between Alastair and Ben that, on 26 May 2015, \u201cfollowing a criminal conviction for arson \u2013 setting fire to Ben\u2019s car\u201d, a restraining order was made against Alastair, banning him from any direct contact with Ben or his immediate family, said the judge.<\/p>\n

However, Alastair didn\u2019t bring a claim challenging the wills until 2023, a decade after his mum\u2019s death and over 18 years after that of his father.<\/p>\n

\"GodlingstonGodlingston Manor, a Grade-I listed medieval building, has been at the centre of the dispute (Supplied by Champion News)<\/p>\n

Master Clark, in her judgment, said that Alastair\u2019s assertion that his dad lacked testamentary capacity when he changed his will in 1999 was well-founded.<\/p>\n

None of the lawyers involved \u201cundertook a formal assessment of John’s capacity\u201d at the time he signed, said the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is, in my judgment, clear that if they had spoken to (his treating doctor) on that day, he would have told them that John\u2019s current state meant he lacked capacity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find therefore that John did not have capacity to execute his 1999 will… John also did not know and approve the content of his 1999 will.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she threw out Alastair\u2019s bid to overturn the will, saying he had delayed too long, having known its contents from around the time it was made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any event, he was told its contents shortly after John died,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe length of the delay in bringing the claim is therefore 18 and a half years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlastair took legal advice in relation to his parents\u2019 estates, but took no steps to challenge the wills. He sought to explain this by reference to his health… and the restraining order.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs to the first, this cannot in my judgment explain the lengthy period before the challenge to the wills was brought. As to the restraining order, this specifically exempted communication through solicitors and did not therefore prevent a claim from being brought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider therefore there is no proper explanation for the delay in bringing the claim and it is… inexplicable.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Bowerman, a bespoke clock and furniture maker, outside court (Champion News)<\/p>\n

\u201cAlastair, has not therefore, in my judgment, shown any justification for his delay in challenging John\u2019s 1999 will.\u201d<\/p>\n

She barred his claim due to the delay and the prejudice it caused to the other parties in the case and then went on to also throw out his claim that Jean\u2019s diary entries showed that she had been subject to \u201cundue influence\u201d from Ben when she changed her will.<\/p>\n

The diary entries showed some feelings of conflict between her and Ben, she said, but \u201cthese entries post-date Jean\u2019s 1999 will by five to six years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1999 will was made when John was still alive, and Jean had his support. The diary entries are made after his death and at a significantly later stage in Jean\u2019s life. There is no suggestion in them that the 1999 will was obtained by any sort of pressure or that Jean regretted executing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirdly and most importantly, none of the incidents described in the diary in my judgment show pressure being exerted sufficient to amount to coercion in the sense of Jean’s will being overborne.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not therefore satisfied that Jean\u2019s 1999 will was procured by undue influence, and Alastair\u2019s challenge to it on that ground fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a costs hearing last week, the judge went on to order Alastair to pay the lawyers\u2019 bills for the case put forward by Ben, his brother David \u2013 who works as a bespoke clock and furniture maker \u2013 and the professional administrator, with \u00a3475,000 up front towards an estimated total of around \u00a3875,000.<\/p>\n

The court was told that the \u201coverall costs to be paid will exceed the sums in the estate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alastair did not attend court for the costs hearing and was not represented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-560501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}