Adopted children of turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews deny his French lover luxury £12m Mediterranean villa

• Details emerged in High Court inheritance tax case
• Adopted Kathleen, Victoria and Jason with wife Joyce
• He left Ramatuelle villa to French lover Odile Marteyn
• But three children won 56% stake under French laws
• Other son George didn't challenge father's request

It was one of Bernard Matthews's dearest wishes.
After his death, the millionaire turkey tycoon wanted his French mistress of 23 years to carry on living in the luxury Mediterranean villa they had shared.
He made three wills, and in a pleading letter begged his estranged wife and children to let Odile Marteyn keep his £12million mansion near Saint Tropez.

Norfolk businessman Bernard Matthews (left), and lover Odile Marteyn (right)

But it has now emerged in a High Court case that his three adopted children – who were left nothing in his will – have defied this wish and are claiming their share of the villa.
Despite the three wills, Mr Matthews knew that he was powerless against French inheritance laws, which decreed that 75 per cent of his property would go to his family.

So in 2006, four years before he died aged 80, he wrote a letter addressed to Joyce, at that time his wife of 54 years, and 'all members of my family'.
In it, he described how 'Odile has supported me unfailingly for years', and reminded his children that he had already been generous to them and long provided financial support.

Inheritance: Kathleen Matthews, one of the three children Mr Matthews adopted with his wife Joyce

Miss Marteyn, now 62, was at Mr Matthews's bedside when he died, along with his wife. Her existence was a secret until last year when Mr Matthews's will was published, revealing he had left her £1million.
It also revealed that he had left all but one per cent of his 39 per cent holding – believed to be worth £30million – to Frederick, his son from a five-year affair with a Dutch aristocrat.
The 30-year-old internet entrepreneur is not claiming his share of the French villa.
In the letter, Mr Matthews wrote: 'The purpose of this letter is to explain to you all ... my thinking in relation to my absolute gift of my French villa to Odile.
'Odile has supported me unfailingly for many years and particularly so during my recent illnesses.
'Without such support, I might not have been able to continue directing our family company for our mutual benefit …
'In reaching my decision I have taken into account the fact that each of you is very well housed with at least one property each and that, directly or indirectly, I have provided financially for each of you over a very long period of years.

'I wish the French villa to continue to be occupied and enjoyed and consider Odile would be the best person to take on this responsibility'.

Marriage breakdown: Bernard Matthews is pictured with his former wife Joyce Matthews, who is the mother of his three adopted children

WHAT BERNARD MATTHEWS WROTE TO HIS CHILDREN

'The purpose of this letter is to explain to you all...my thinking in relation to my absolute gift of my French village to Odile.
'Odile has supported me unfailingly for many years and particularly so during my recent illnesses.
'Without such support, I might not have been able to continue directing our family company for our mutual benefit.
'In reaching my decision I have taken into account the fact that each of you is very well housed with at least one property each and that, directly or indirectly, I have provided financially for each of you over a very long period of years.
'I wish the French villa to continue to be occupied and enjoyed and consider Odile would be the best person to take on this responsibility.'

In one of his wills – two French and one English – Mr Matthews, whose property outside of France was worth around £40million, bequeathed the villa to his 62-year-old mistress outright.
But a ruling at the High Court yesterday revealed that his three adopted children, Kathleen, Jason and Victoria, have not adhered to their late father's request and instead have insisted on their right to their stake in the villa – 56.25 per cent excluding Frederick's share.
This leaves Miss Marteyn with 43.75 per cent, but Judge Nicholas Strauss QC said she 'accepts that there is nothing she can do about this'.
The case came to the High Court because the children had argued that the £2million inheritance tax they are liable to pay on their share of the villa should  be paid out of their late father's English estate.
However, rejecting their arguments, Judge Strauss said Mr Matthews had clearly wished Miss Marteyn to inherit the entire villa and to have her French inheritance tax bill paid from his estate.
'He did not want his adopted children to have any part of the property.
He concluded: 'For this reason, I hold that the adopted children have no right under the English will to have their tax liability discharged, or to be reimbursed if they have paid it.'

History: Mr Matthews fathered George (left) by Dutch aristocrat Cornelia Elgershuizen (right) after the breakdown of his 58-year marriage to Joyce

Despite his extramarital affairs, Mr Matthews, who once described his private life as 'complicated', never divorced his childhood sweetheart Joyce, 83, whom he married in 1952.
A Matthews family spokesman said they did not wish to comment.