A consultant psychiatrist yesterday argued that a "delusionary insane" Tory donor had been "rational and logical" to leave millions of pounds to the Conservatives to fight "satanic monsters" and "dark forces" around the world.
Robert Howard, an expert in disputed wills by mentally ill people, was giving evidence at the high court on behalf of the Conservative party in a battle between Zoran Kostic, son of a multimillionaire businessman who disinherited him, and the Tories over an estate worth £10m.
Both sides accept that Branislav Kostic, Zoran Kostic's father, had been "delusionary insane" since 1985 when he divorced, broke off relations with his son and sister and claimed there was an international conspiracy of more than 100 people masterminded by sexually perverted pharmaceutical company executives to destroy "freedom, democracy and human purity".
The Conservatives contend that his decision to leave them his entire estate in 1989 was rational and based on his love of Britain and admiration for Mrs Thatcher. The son contends that he was of "unsound mind" when he wrote the last will disinheriting the son from the family fortune.
Dr Howard argued that Mr Kostic's madness, unlike schizophrenia, did not " wax or wane" and after 1985 he would have had the capacity to write a will. Under cross-examination by Clare Montgomery QC, for Zoran Kostic, he accepted that one interpretation could be that his father's correspondence offering money to the Tories came from his delusions about "satanic monsters" rather than support for Tory values and philosophy.
The case continues.
