UK businessman leaves £41m fortune to Oxfam

LONDON: Richard Cousins, the highly-regarded head of catering giant Compass who was killed in a plane crash, reportedly left £41 million to Oxfam in a recently updated will. 

The 58-year-old tycoon died in a seaplane crash near Sydney on New Year’s Eve, along with his two sons, fiancée Emma Bowden, and her daughter while on a dream holiday to Australia.

Cousins reportedly originally planned to leave his wealth to his sons William, 25, and Edward, 23. However, a year before the tragedy in Australia he drew up a new will, inserting a “common tragedy clause” that would come into force if he and his sons were all killed together, the Sun reported.

When tragedy struck, the main beneficiary was Oxfam, reportedly receiving all but £3 million of his fortune. His brother, Simon and Andrew, were left £1 million each, the newspaper reported. “It’s the kind of bequest charities dream of. There will rightly be heavy scrutiny of how the money is spent,” a source told the paper. Oxfam has yet to respond to the Telegraph’s request for comment. 

The large bequest comes as Oxfam reels from a sex scandal that has roiled the charity sector. —