Widow and half-brother row over estate

AN English judge will have to decide a legal battle over the £30 million fortune of a wealthy Arab.

Jewish air stewardess Lesley June Al-Bassam, who has a certificate of marriage to Abdulaziz Al-Bassam at Westminster Register Office in 1986, claims that, under English law, she is entitled to his whole estate following his death in November 2001.

But the dead man's half-brother, Abdullah Al-Bassam, says the marriage was a sham and the will was invalid.

He was appealing today against orders that the case should not be heard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah argued that it was not his half-brother's signature on the marriage certificate, that his half-brother was a resident of Saudi Arabia and not England, and that the will was invalid because his half-brother asked to be cremated and to leave goods to a non-Muslim both of which are against Muslim tenets.

Mrs Al-Bassam, who is in her mid-50s, had argued that her late husband was not a devout Muslim but a "Westernised" horse-racing fanatic.

Tom Lowe, representing her at the Court of Appeal, had told the judges: "Saudi Arabia is a strict Islamic country where drinking and gambling are outlawed and punished severely.

"In England, Abdulaziz was a prodigious drinker, smoker and gambler."

He was said to have lived nine months of the year in London until his death from cancer, aged 76.

Lord Justice Chadwick, who gave the lead ruling at the Court of Appeal, relaxed a previous ruling that the case could never be heard in Saudi Arabia but said it must first be heard at the High Court in London to determine issues over the will and Mr Al-Bassam's country of residence.