Ware man jailed for £200k inheritance fraud

A man has been jailed for five years for conspiring to defraud the inheritance of an estate.

In 2023, Mark Totton who was acting as the executor of a deceased family member’s estate, was reported to police for failing to distribute the assets as directed in the deceased’s will.  

Upon investigation it was discovered that Totton had misappropriated approximately £209,000 from the estate.

Totton, aged 63, of Presdales Court, Ware, appeared at St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday 13 August and was found guilty by the jury. He was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud by abuse of position. 

Detective Constable Sian Beames, from Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Serious Fraud and Cyber Unit who lead the case, said: “This has been a long running investigation, which began back in 2023 and required complex examination of the legal documents and will for the estate. 

“Totton was placed in a position of trust and misused the money from the estate he had been entrusted to look after. The beneficiaries of the estate have been further subjected to a lengthy court case to achieve what was rightfully theirs.”