Dispute over will's £10m payout

Relatives of a wealthy property owner who left most of her £10m fortune to a Chinese restaurant owner are challenging her will in the High Court.

Golda "Goldie" Bechal, who lived in Mayfair, London, died aged 89 in 2004 leaving most of her estate to friends Kim Sing Man and his wife Bee Lian Man.

But five nephews and nieces claim she was suffering from dementia when the will was made.

The Man family, of Essex, said they had had a long friendship with Mrs Bechal.

The widow's husband Simon Bechal died in 1971 and her son Peter Bechal died, aged 28, in 1974.

It was a long-standing and very close, affectionate and loving relationship Penelope Reed

The Bechal family are asking a judge to rule that the will is invalid and that they should therefore inherit under an intestacy.

The judge, Sir Donald Rattee, was shown a photograph album dating back to the late sixties to counter any suggestion that the Man family did not "arrive on the scene" until the 1990s.

Penelope Reed, counsel for Mr and Mrs Man said: "It was a long-standing and very close, affectionate and loving relationship."

Counsel pointed to pictures of Mrs Bechal and her husband Simon at the opening of the Man family's restaurant - started by Mr Man's father in 1969 at a property owned by the Bechals in Braintree, Essex.

There were photos over the years of many get-togethers - at Mr and Mrs Man's own restaurant in Witham, Essex, and on holidays, at Mrs Bechal's invitation, in Jerusalem and Cannes.

(She) always enjoyed her Chinese pickled leeks and bean sprouts, which I bought for her Kim Sing Man

"Mrs Bechal virtually became part of the family - she appears in the photographs as if she is the grandmother," said Ms Reed.

Counsel said there was evidence to show that Mrs Bechal's relationship with her real family had deteriorated.

Ms Reed said one of the issues in the case was whether the final will, dated August 1994, was made in "suspicious circumstances".

Mr and Mrs Man, who have three children and who went bankrupt in 1992, gave evidence that they were not present when the will form was filled in, nor when the will was drawn up.

Recalling his friendship with Mrs Bechal, Mr Man said she was "an upper-class posh lady" who always dressed well and "always enjoyed her Chinese pickled leeks and bean sprouts, which I bought for her".

Asked whether he had expected to be left virtually the whole of her estate, he said he never talked to her about her will.

The hearing continues.