Glamorous estate agent who married toothless millionaire denied any claim to his will

A glamorous estate agent who married a toothless millionaire hermit 25 years her senior has been denied any claim to his estate after a court ruling.

Sandrine Devillard met ‘mountain man’ Marcel Amphoux, when she tried to buy five shepherd’s huts he owned close to exclusive ski resort Serre Chevalier in the French Alps which were said to be worth millions.The unlikely pair began a romance but villagers in Puy-Saint-Pierre, Hautes-Alpes, suspected the estate agent was trying to manipulate Marcel.

When the couple tied the knot in September 2011 the villagers turned out to heckle the ceremony.

Sandrine spent most of her time in Paris, looking after her four businesses while her mountain man lover lived in a mountain hut without electricity or running water.A year after their wedding Marcel, who was nicknamed the hermit of the Alps, died in a mysterious car accident - apparently leaving his estate to his widow.

The driver and another passenger, who both survived, were friends of his wife. The driver was later acquitted of manslaughter.

At Marcel’s funeral the Alpine village turned out en masse and in his sermon the parish priest said the mountain man had been treated like a “balance sheet, not a person”.

Sandrine who was dressed in black tried to hurl herself into his grave.

Villagers said she told tenants they were being evicted and that the huts were hers.

But in 2013 the hermit’s will, which he had scribbled on the back of an envelope, came to light revealing he had left the shepherd’s huts to their local tenants while the rest of Marcel’s property was to go to a female cousin leaving Sandrine with nothing.His widow challenged the will claiming it was not his hand-writing and that he had been the victim of “abuse of trust”.

On December 12 the public prosecutor announced that her claims had been quashed.

According to French media Prosecutor Raphael Balland said that handwriting experts had concluded that “the will is by his hand”.

He added: “For there to be abuse of weakness, one must first prove weakness. There is no evidence to prove this.”

Culled from Daily Mirror