Lynda Rickard, 62, was found guilty of murdering James Sootheran, 59, at his property, High Havens Farm in the village of South Newington, Oxfordshire, in March 2014.
By Press Association 2021
Lynda Rickard
A woman who forged the will of a wealthy landowner before starving him to death to inherit a slice of his £3.5 million fortune has been jailed for life.
Carer Lynda Rickard, 62, was found guilty of murdering former auctioneer’s clerk James Sootheran, known as Anthony, 59, at his property, High Havens Farm in the village of South Newington, Oxfordshire, in March 2014.
She had been paid £47,000 a year to look after his elderly mother, Mary Sootheran, known as Joy, until her death, aged 92, in 2012, and lived at the farm with her American-born husband Wayne Rickard, 66, before they were evicted in 2017.
A carer who deliberately starved her live-in landlord to death to inherit a slice of his multimillion-pound estate was convicted of murder today after his skeletal body was found next to a plate of McDonald s.
Lynda Rickard and her husband Wayne moved into a Oxfordshire farmhouse set on 60 acres of land owned by James Anthony Sootheran in 2006.
The 62-year-old cared for his aging mother Joy Sootheran, but despite receiving £47,000 a year in her role, she soon started using the woman s money as her own.
Mother-of-three Lynda had previously admitted forging the will of Ms Sootheran, in an attempt to gain half of her £1.5million estate.