Location, Location, Location star Phil Spencer’s parents leave £18 million to family after crash tragedy at Littlebourne farm, near Canterbury
Published: 13:20, 28 November 2024
Updated: 14:38, 28 November 2024
Phil Spencer’s parents left £18 million to the TV host and his three siblings following their death in a tragic accident.
David and Anne Spencer – parents to the Location, Location, Location star – died after their Toyota Hybrid C-HR toppled off a narrow bridge and landed upside down in a stream at their farm in Littlebourne, near Canterbury.
The star previously revealed the beloved couple “would have held hands under the water and quietly slipped away”.
In the elderly couple’s wills made public yesterday, David, who died aged 89, left a total of £15.3 million while his wife Anne, 82, passed on £2.9 million, The Sun reports.
Anne’s will states a request for a donation from her estate to go towards the maintenance of her local church in Littlebourne but documents do not state the amount.
She also requested £500 gifts should be given to a nephew and niece living in Canada as well as her godson.
Anne also asked for her jewellery to be distributed between her two daughters, granddaughters and daughters-in-law.
And she left the couple’s farm and her estate to be split between the four children.
Phil’s father also gave £10,000 to each of his eight grandchildren and a £20,000 donation to the RNLI.
And the rest of David’s estate was placed in trust for the benefit of his two sons, his TV host son and older brother Robert – who ran the family farm – and the couple’s daughters.
The couple died in a tragedy at their farm on August 18 last year.
The parents-of-four decided to go for lunch and Mr Spencer’s carer, Veronica Francis was in the back while David was in the front passenger seat.
Mrs Spencer was believed to have had a “momentary loss of concentration” while she was driving at their farm, an inquest heard.
After the car toppled over, Ms Francis managed to escape the vehicle and raise the alarm.
The couple's son Robert, who manages the farm, raced to the scene and with others managed to free his parents.
They were given CPR until the ambulance arrived but did not recover and were later declared dead in hospital.
Mr Spencer’s cause of death was given as aspiration pneumonitis due to submersion.
While Mrs Spencer died from aspiration pneumonia, a hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury, due to submersion.
Coroner Sarah Clarke said: "These are some of the most tragic circumstances I have heard and my only conclusion is that they died as a result of an accident.”
TV host Phil, speaking of the response to the tragedy, told KentOnline: “We cannot thank everyone enough for their kind words and thoughts about our parents at this difficult time.”
Both David and Anne were dedicated supporters of St Vincent’s Church in Littlebourne, where she was a member of the parochial church council and he a sidesman.
Elsewhere in the village, David was president of Littlebourne Scouts and provided camping opportunities for youngsters on the farm.
Anne’s passion was riding horses – something she had only very recently given up following a fall.
But for many years she was a member of the East Kent Hunt and a volunteer for the Cobbes Meadow Riding for the Disabled Group at Chartham.
In recent years, David had been impaired by dementia and Anne was suffering with mild Parkinson’s disease.
But both continued to enjoy life at Upper Garrington Farm, which had been their home for almost 60 years.
David and Anne first met at a New Year's Eve party in Canterbury in the early 1960s.
He was the son of a bank manager who studied engineering at Loughborough University, where he also excelled at hockey, and she was the daughter of a GP and a teacher at Waltham Primary School.
After a spell in finance in London, David followed his heart and bought Lower Garrington Farm.
And so began their varied and productive life, both off and on the farm, while raising their four children in a setting redolent of the picturesque TV show, The Darling Buds of May.
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Brad Harper