Family sue waitress left £650k home by 'recluse'

THE family of an eccentric “recluse” who signed over his £650,000 home to a waitress are suing to get it back.

- Nev Ayling

Military memorabilia collector Richard Joy died in May 2018, having lived his entire life at the family home in Harrow, North London.

The 82-year-old never married or had children. But less than two years before his death, he gave his home to Mariia Romanyshyn, 38, a Ukrainian waitress he met at the Upper Crust cafe, Harrow, in 2011.

They formed a close bond, she says. The pensioner eventually invited Mrs Romanyshyn, her husband and their daughters to live with him.

In 2016 he told her he was giving her his house, she claims, having “thrust” the deeds of the property into her hands and telling her: “The house is yours.”