A self-styled lord sued over claim mum left him house to look after parrots | UK | News

Businessman “Lord” Brett McLean became the sole beneficiary of his mother Maureen McLean’s estate in 2019.

But now his half-brother, train driver Ian McLean, 61, is being sued by his two former soldiers, Sean McLean and Lorraine Pomeroy.

They say their late biological father, Reginald, and his second wife, Maureen, made a will in 2017 that would divide their fortune equally between Brett and his three half-siblings.

But Maureen changed the arrangement following Reginald’s death in 2019, removing her three stepchildren and leaving everything to Brett, 47.

He says he named himself Lord of Hastings after a friend he worked with gave him this title, and describes himself as “chairman, advisor, patron, trustee and chairman of national, regional and local business, charitable and voluntary organisations”.

She told Central London District Court that her mother left her £300,000 home in St Leonards, East Sussex, to her so she could continue to look after her green Amazon orange-winged parrot and orange budgie Jenday.

He also claims that letters his half-siblings say prove that Reginald and Maureen agreed to divide the inheritance among the four children are fake.

But his half-brother Ian, of Sevenoaks, Kent, accused him of being “pretentious” and insisted his parents had stated they wanted the house where Brett lived and the couple’s money to be shared between the children.

The court also heard that if Brett loses the case, he will not only lose his accommodation but also face a rent bill accumulated from his stepsisters while he lived there.