A woman told the High Court in Belfast yesterday about an anonymous phone call informing her that the father she never knew had died. Mrs Frances Feeley (55), from Lower Braniel Road, Belfast, was giving evidence in her claim to the £500,000 estate of the late Samuel Kerland (83), from Tullyhogue, Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
Mrs Feeley claims she is the illegitimate daughter and only child of the bachelor farmer, who died in 1992 without having made a will.
The court has already heard that the bodies of Mr Kerland and Mrs Feeley's unmarried mother, Ms Emily Creighton, were exhumed for DNA tests to help prove her case.
In court yesterday Mrs Feeley said that after the phone call she went to Cookstown and spoke to a number of people, including Mr Jack Elliott, an uncle of one of the two representatives of Mr Kerland's estate, who are defendants in the action.
She said: "I told Mr Elliott that I understood Sam Kerland was my father and he replied to the effect that what I understood was the truth."
Mrs Feeley's cousin, James Creighton, said he often saw Sam Kerland at his aunt Emily's house, which bordered the 120-acre Kerland farm.
Mr Creighton said that after his aunt Emily's death in 1986 he spoke to another aunt, Annie Creighton. "She told me that she took Emily to this house in Belfast to have the baby and named Sam Kerland as the father", he said.
The hearing continues today.