Couple 'grooming' lonely elderly people.

A widow (with bungalow) we know of was befriended by a very 'helpful' person. He took her out in car and cut grass etc.
A short time later lady died and this young man was bequeathed the house and all contents.
Lady had two cousins who challenged this new will, and police were brought in, but no action taken. Most relatives of this man were disgusted and broke contact with him.

My wise elder brother when he was terminally ill advised me to have our Mother living near me after he died, as he said "Mother is silly about men" meaning she was rather gullible.

Events proved my brother right.

I worked for a sheltered housing charity and we were forbidden to accept any gifts, it was considered gross misconduct. I have since, heard of this ' befriending' of an elderly persons and watched a documentary on TV who exposed these types of 'friends.' There was one 90+ frail man, it wasn't until a lovely community officer and social services got him on his own, and in a safe place that he would actually say he was afraid of the 'friend' who was cashing cheques for him. He was very scared she would come after him, I felt so sad for him. Then also, a friend's aunt had money and beautiful antiques. Some objects from her family home (before being sold) were added to her own room in sheltered housing to make it homely, started to disappear and she also started to ask for money. My friend asked her what she needed money for since everything she wanted, hair cuts, pedicures etc, were all on the monthly bill. Turned out she was giving it to one of the carers that bathed her! I told friend to immediately speak to the home manager - it should not be allowed. Anyway, it was stopped. I would speak to a community officer and adult services letting both know you have informed the other. Try to state facts and leave it with them.

My bro in law began doing this years ago and died with a nice stable of rental houses. Wrong? Who knows. The old women got a handi-man and friend at a time when they needed it.

Wrong?
Certainly grooming elderly, possibly grieving widows, could be considered immoral.

Nothing tricky about this at all.

Report it to police and social services. You need to protect these elderly vulnerable individuals and others going forward. As you say this has happened previously those cases can be investigated.

The sooner the better.

It may be abuse, or it may not. It is not up to OP, or their husband to investigate or make decisions. They think there is a problem so they should report it, and then leave those with experience in the field to do their job.

Sometimes, the very act of investigating gives the vulnerable person food for thought. However, if they are judged to have capacity, then indeed they can leave their assets to whosoever they wish.

I feel the only answer is to call Age UK and ask for advice (they suggest this if you are worried about reporting safeguarding issues). If they suggest you report this, then you must do so to the body they advise.

I say this not because you know what has happened but because you don't. Let the people who know how to deal with this do so and then step back and don't, whatever you do, gossip about it.

I would say report it for your own peace of mind. It is a difficult situation because you don’t know whether any coercion has taken place, therefore any investigation needs to be done discreetly by the correct authorities.

If it turns out that everything is above board, all well and good and no harm done. I say this because, many years ago, my mother’s cousin moved over a hundred miles to live fairly close to them. She made contact with them and, as she didn’t drive, my parents took her to appointments and took her out for the day every couple of weeks or so. No expectations of any kind but they were not treated very kindly by the cousin’s niece (my mother’s second cousin) when she turned up on one of her rare visits.

As expected, when the cousin died her niece was the main beneficiary, but my parents had been bequeathed a small sum. The niece managed to infer that this was why my parents had helped her, it was devastating for them as they had done it out of kindness and expected nothing.

This is why I say that any investigation should be discreet.

OP
If you're worried, then do do something about it!
Are there really no relatives? What about longstanding friends? At that age, their longstanding friends may not be able to visit much but still keep in touch by phone or letter!
I'm a bit confused about them leaving the properties to these people as I thought these places were usually rented, or in some way would revert to the group in charge of the area!
But, on the other hand, these wardens/ex wardens are actually taking the time to look after them and take them out, treat them to meals and generally being friendly with them.
But if they are just doing these things for the ones who in properties &/or have money, then the concern is there!!
Also, (I watch far too many crime programmes) are these people dying of natural causes or illnesses? Are you worried there's fowl play?
If in doubt, please do something as it's better to be safe than sorry!!!

You said these people don't have relatives. Not one of you is, apparently, taking these people out / cooking for them / providing compnay / taking them on errands. And yet, you are concerned that the ex-wardens are preying on them, not to mention the fact that you have found out that it is happening, along with sundry other details, no doubt. Frankly, I more concerned about the above, and unless the elderly people are being abused, I doubt there is much that can be done about it. Reporting this mnight end up in having the old people sent to homes, if the couple are not allowed to look after them any more. And then, will you be satisfied?

How many old people are left lonely, their relatives not visiting or offering any support or assistance, their partners dead and living a solitary existence quite alone. Then dreadful people see this vulnerability and move in on them, take them for meals and shopping outings, things relatives don’t do and that lonely person is happy once more. It is coercion but no one can do anything about it. These vultures know just what they are doing and are very thick skinned and the way round the system. I don’t think a relative who abandons family should get anything, if they were so bothered it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t know what the answer is. I would have hoped in warden controlled homes there would be friends at least made and company with each other. I remember a few famous people leaving family that didn’t bother with them anything.

Manipulaton of the feelings of the lonely eldery person is very difficult to challege when it leads to over the top gifts. The boundary beetween reasonable and between groomed affection is at present impossible to define.

I would most definitely say to Report them firstly to The Police and then to anyone associated to the property that they live How Horrid