Birleys go to court over virtual disinheritance

The acrimonious dispute over the will of the late Mark Birley, one-time owner of the Mayfair haunts Annabel's and Harry's Bar, is about to get messier. When Birley died last year, aged 77, his son Robin Birley was left a derisory £1m from a fortune of £104m, the remainder being held in trust for his sister India Jane Birley's son, Eben. Since then, Robin Birley, 50, has spent months attempting to overturn the will, and following a preliminary hearing earlier this month it looks like the matter is now headed for the High Courts.

According to a report in yesterday's London Evening Standard, Birley now intends to pursue the 'nuclear option' - to prove that his father was not of sound mind and reliant on alcohol when he (virtually) disinherited him. If he can prove this, an earlier will, in which the money was divided equally between the siblings, could be reinstated.

Mark Birley fell out with his son a year before his death. Robin had hired a private detective to investigate India Jane's boyfriend, who he suspected - wrongly - of being a conman who preyed on wealthy women. It is not recorded whether his father approved of this action or not, but what he did object to was the fact that the detective's fee, £200,000, was paid for out of Annabel's funds. When he found out, he accused his son of "robbing the till".

Robin maintains that he was entitled to take the money, saying that his father agreed to let him have half the profits from Annabel's because he only took half his agreed salary, £50,000, for running the club. Birley's lawyers will argue that his father didn't remember the deal, which was never written down, because he was non compos mentis.

But even this may not be enough. Lawyers for India Jane (pictured) have a letter written by Mark Birley before he died confirming the second will as valid. Anticipating it might be challenged, he even engaged a doctor to prove he was mentally sound.

Friends hope it will not come to this, however. "Arguing over whether Mark was ga-ga will involve a lot of dirty linen being washed in public," warns one family friend. "Everyone is hoping India and Robin will patch things up before it comes to that."