ECCENTRIC old man, Wilfred Lamb, knew exactly what he was doing when he cut a former carer out of his £250,000 estate and left everything to an 11-year-old girl he treated as his own granddaughter, a top judge ruled.

Judge John Jarvis QC said the way in which Mr Lamb dictated a codicil to his will in favour of Katie Loveridge shortly before he died, aged 72, in January, 2000, was enough to "excite the suspicion of the court".

Dismissing former carer, Josephine Shuck's, challenge to the codicil, the judge ruled: "I consider that it was his free and informed decision and represented his genuine wishes."

Mr Lamb lived without mains electricity or water on a derelict smallholding - Sandall Cottage, Goldness Corner, Worcester Road, Hartlebury. The judge said he was "undoubtedly an eccentric character".

He added: "The evidence shows that he had various run-ins with the authorities, including the bailiffs and the local council.

"He was someone who appeared not to trust those in authority. He was critical of police, doctors and solicitors.

"He could act in extreme ways" and Judge Jarvis said an example of that was an occasion when the divorcee was put on probation by magistrates after threatening bailiffs with an air rifle.

A psychiatric report, however, showed he was not mentally ill despite suffering from a "paranoid querulous personality trait".

In an earlier home-made will and codicils he had made various bequests - including £10,000 to Mrs Shuck - but, on January 3, 2000, just eight days before he died, he executed the final codicil, leaving everything to Katie, of Cobham Road, Kidderminster.

Mrs Shuck, of Burlish Close, Stourport, argued the codicil - dictated by Mr Lamb to Katie's mother, Susan Loveridge, from his Kidderminster Hospital bed - was "suspicious" and did not reflect his true wishes.

Judge Jarvis, however, said: "There is no doubt that Mr Lamb had an extremely close relationship with Katie Loveridge. The evidence is that he treated her as a granddaughter and regularly took her out.

"He clearly wanted her to go to a good school," he added.