A man who swindled his brother out of a share of a £1.5 million inheritance has been found guilty of five counts of fraud.

Peter Howes, 53, forged the signatures of his mother and older brother in order to wind up trust funds before transferring the funds into his own account via a joint account set up with his mother. He also cashed in two life insurance policies worth £100,000 and kept the proceeds from the sale of the family home. His brother, who lives in Singapore, only discovered the fraud when he contacted his mother’s bank after her death, to be told there was "no money left".

The bank told Mr Howes that the money had been moved into his brother’s current account over a long period of time and that they had never been informed of his mother’s death.

Howes was found guilty by a jury following a three-week trial. His wife was acquitted of a single charge of fraud. The pair from Lechlade in Gloucestershire, had denied all the charges made against them.

Jurors were told that the estate should have been split equally between Howes and his brother, but had been used to buy a 40 per cent stake in an online gaming company set up by a relative of his wife.

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