Ugly court battle over $30m David Rofe will fortune to reopen with new Kathy Jackson evidence

New evidence relating to late barrister David Rofe’s ‘day wife’ Kathy Jackson will see ugly court case resumed.

David Rofe and Kathy Jackson together. Picture: Supplied

The criminal history of disgraced ex-union chief Kathy Jackson will be submitted to the NSW Sup­reme Court in a last-ditch attempt by her rivals to finally end the convicted thief’s claim to a big slice of prominent Sydney barrister David Rofe’s $30m fortune.

The court agreed on Tuesday to a request from Jackson’s arch rival Nick Illek, who is aligned with Rofe’s “virtual son” Nick Llewel­lyn, to issue the ex-union boss with an order to produce documents relating­ to separate fraud-related convictions from last year and this month.

Jackson pleaded guilty last month to two counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception after she admitted to misapprop­riating more than $100,000 from the Health Services Union while she was national secretary between 2003 and 2010.

The revelations before the Victorian County Court meant a suppression order was lifted on reporting­ that Jackson had been found guilty by a jury on two counts of obtaining a financial advantag­e by deception following a trial last December.

In response to the bombshell plea deal being made public, lawyers representing Mr Illek successfully applied to reopen the probate hearing on Tuesday in a bid to use Jackson’s four criminal convictions to attack her credibility.

Judge Geoff Lindsay, however, said the parties would be given the opportunity to debate the rele­vance of Jackson’s criminal charges to the civil case next month. He said Jackson’s convictions would only be “relevant to credit”, and warned Mr Illek’s lawyers against using the subpoena to “trawl through criminal proceedings.”

Mr Illek is among a dozen beneficiaries squabbling in court over how to divide Rofe’s estate, where they are accusing each other of using nefarious methods and “undue influence” to trick, charm, or force their way into Rofe’s prized final will.

Rofe died aged 85 in 2017 and left a vast estate worth $30m to a disparate collection of relatives, friends, and acquaintances whose names were written into — and often out of — the estimated 40 wills he signed in his lifetime.

Jackson met Rofe in May 2012 — almost two years after he was diagnosed with dementia — and quickly graduated from the silk’s acquaintance to a self-styled “day wife”.

Within two years, she became one of the biggest beneficiaries in the barrister’s many wills and is poised to inherit up to $3m if the court upholds the final will.

The warring beneficiaries also include rival nephews James and Philip Rofe, Mr Illek, a self-described “end-of-life specialist” who is aligned with Mr Llewellyn, and Rofe’s carer and ex-partner Gregg Hele, who opposes the application to admit evidence about Jackson’s crimes.

He is likely to receive $6m if the court upholds the December 2014 will that Jackson helped Rofe cobble together while she was his unofficial “secretary.”

Mr Llewellyn will be forced to repay a $2.4m debt if the court upholds the disputed December will, which would effectively cancel out a $3m inheritance. If the court upholds a will written in March 2014, however, Mr Llewellyn could walk away debt-free with $6m.

Jackson has previously told the court that Mr Llewellyn was a “parasite” and an “odious human being” who blackmailed the ailing Rofe, “plied” him with alcohol, stole his cheques and would occasionally threaten to “kill himself” if Rofe didn’t do “X, Y and Z”.

Mr Llewellyn, who is the occupier of Rofe’s luxury Gold Coast apartment, was accused by Jackson of trying to drive a wedge between Rofe and her ex-partner Michael Lawler, the dementia patient’s fin­ancial controller and former vice-president of the Fair Work Commission.

The matter returns to court in November.