Dead man's wagers could win £323k for Oxfam (From thisisoxfordshire)

Dead man's wagers could win £323k for Oxfam

6:56pm Monday 8th March 2010

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OXFAM workers are keeping their fingers crossed for a winning run of bets placed by a man who left his estate to the charity.

The Oxford-based charity is mystified why Nicholas Newlife, of Rousham Road, Tackley, left his entire estate to Oxfam when he died aged 69.

The estate includes a series of sporting bets he placed while alive which include world number one tennis player Roger Federer winning Wimbledon seven times – a feat he could achieve this year – and West Indian cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan hitting 9,000 career test runs.

If Mr Newlife’s bets are successful, Oxfam could earn £323,000 from bookmakers William Hill.

Neighbours last night described Mr Newlife as a recluse and a betting fanatic who lived alone in his three-bedroom cottage and always planned to give his winnings to charity.

The cash from beyond the grave was one of the oddest donations bequeathed to the charity over the past 60 years.

Oxfam spokesman Stuart Fowkes said: “We don’t know why he chose us as there are no obvious links.

“He was a bachelor with no children, but lived locally. The will said he wanted the money to go to help people.”

Neighbour Gavin Cowan, 56, said Mr Newlife set up a £3,000 computer system so he could place his wagers.

He added: “Mr Newlife came to me and got me to help him install a computer – he said he wanted to place a series of long-term bets. He said that it was all going to charity.”

But another neighbour, who asked not to be named said: “He was a loner and a recluse.”

His body was found by police after neighbours raised the alarm because he had not been seen for a week last February.

The series of bets were all made with William Hill between 2000 and 2005.

Cathy Ferrier, fundraising and support manager at Oxfam, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Mr Newlife for his generous gift and will be keeping a close eye on Wimbledon this year as a result.”

If the bets win, the charity estimates the money would buy emergency rations for 46,000 people, safe water for 350,000 people, or 12,800 goats.

Graham Sharpe, of William Hill, said: “Mr Newlife was clearly a very shrewd gambler, but to ensure that a respected charity would benefit from any bets which came to fruition after his death makes him unprecedented in my 30-year experience of the betting industry.”

Mr Newlife left his entire £314,000 estate, which largely included property, to Oxfam.

Previous unusual legacies include a pair of gold teeth, the royalties from 1960s television show Doctor Finlay’s Casebook and a letter written by Florence Nightingale.

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