Gary Pammen: Psychic poet ordered to pay £216k bill after losing fight with sister over inheritance

The self-proclaimed psychic, known for his appearances on major television programmes, is facing a £216,000 court bill after failing to foresee his own legal defeat in an inheritance battle against his younger sister and niece.

Gary Pammen, who played the role of “The Cockney Bard” and claimed to have the power of healing and second sight, filed a lawsuit against his sister Tracy Pammen and daughter Paige Pammen. The psychic poet, who says his poems are telepathically guided by spirits, has appeared on BBC, Sky and ITV.

The dispute stemmed from the death of their father, Terrance Pammen, who passed away in May 2022 at the age of 83.

Mr Pammen senior had left his entire estate worth £451,840 (specifically a house in Stratford, east London) to Tracy and Paige, despite having five children.

Gary Pammen challenged his father’s 2016 will, arguing that he lacked “testamentary capacity” and “did not know and approve” of its contents due to his mental infirmity.

But Judge Simon Monty ruled in favor of Tracy and Paige, upholding the will and ordering the TV prophet to pay legal costs.

“This entire claim is based on nothing more than suspicions arising from a family dispute between Tracy and her mother around the time of her death,” the judge said.

“This has led Gary to view every piece of evidence as supporting his case, when in fact his belief (which he undoubtedly believes strongly and sincerely) is based on nothing more than confirmation bias.

“Gary cannot accept that his father left him, his sister Jackie, or his brother Mark with nothing.”

The Plaistow-born poet, who represented himself against his sister and nephew during the trial of the case, told Central London District Court that the 2016 will “completely disinherited” Terrance’s children and grandchildren, other than Tracy and Paige, beyond gifts of “a few worthless securities”.

As well as Gary, his other siblings Mark, Jacqueline and Gemma were also excluded from anything of monetary value in the will. None of them were parties to the case.

Gary, 65, who now lives in Norfolk, said he spoke to his father on the phone every day, that he loved his father outside the court and always got along well with him, adding that there was no obvious reason why he should be disinherited.

In his submission to the court, he said Terrance was not of sound mind when the will was signed and claimed it was prepared “at a time when the deceased was experiencing documented cognitive and progressive impairment as well as profound confusion about his family relationships and the extent of his estate.”

He also accused Tracy of raiding their father’s bank accounts in his final years; Tracy and his lawyers dismissed this claim as absurd.

Defending the will, Tracy and Paige said Terrance was “thoroughly intelligent” and independent-minded when making the will and had definite views on how he wanted to leave his estate.

Tracy stated that when he made his will, his father was still working at Morrisons sorting trolleys and continued doing so for up to three years afterwards.

His lawyer, Tom Gosling, said there was “no real doubt” about Terrance’s ability to comprehend what he was doing when he began the process of making a will without the involvement of any family members in 2016, and that expert evidence from a psychiatrist confirmed he was sane.

Mr Gosling said Terrance was diagnosed with dementia in 2020 but did not show any signs of deterioration in his memory until 2017 or 2018.

“I don’t agree that she was confused,” Tracy told the court, adding that he went to visit her every day for up to three hours and took her shopping and on social outings.

When asked by Gary why Terrance cut off his four children, as well as a defenseless grandson, Paige replied: “He knew he would be taken care of by us; so he left all that to me and my mother because he knew we would be responsible for him.”

The judge said in favor of Tracy and Paige: “In my opinion, based on a holistic assessment of all the factual and expert evidence, it is abundantly clear that Mr. Pammen has testamentary capacity.

“I regret to say that Gary’s claim to the contrary, and this entire claim, are based on nothing more than suspicions arising from a family dispute around the time of Tracy and her mother’s death, the details of which I was not told.

“This has led Gary to view every piece of evidence as supporting his case, when in fact his belief (which he no doubt strongly and sincerely supports) is based on nothing more than confirmation bias, the desire to see everything as supporting, rather than objective facts and what is more likely to be the case.

“Gary cannot accept that his father did not abandon him, his sister Jackie, or his brother Mark, and now sees everything as confirmation that his father does not understand what is going on.

“In fact, the evidence suggests the opposite and that Mr. Pammen’s cognitive problems did not cause any problems until at least a year had passed since the will was made.

“Part of Gary’s complaint against Tracy and Paige is the unexplained large withdrawals of money from Mr Pammen’s account, particularly after a period during which he was diagnosed with dementia based on medical evidence. Gary said they stole tens of thousands of pounds from his late father.

“I have decided not to make a clear determination on this matter other than the fact that the money was not withdrawn by Tracy and/or Paige.

“All I have to say is that I am not convinced that the withdrawals were made by Tracy, except where Tracy agreed to withdraw a more modest amount of money to buy groceries for Mr. Pammen.”

Ordering Gary to pay his sister and nephew’s £216,013.85 legal costs with a £150,000 down payment, the judge concluded: “I see no good reason not to order Gary to make payments on account. It seems to me that a payment of £150,000 is reasonable in the circumstances and that is what I will rule.”