as his delusions developed. The primary focus of Bane’s delusions was initially on
his wife, Mirjana, whom he groundlessly suspected of infidelity and attempting to
harm him. The focus then widened to encompass the other two close female members
of his family, his mother and his sister, and then grew in both scope and intensity until
by the end of 1984, as we have seen, he prepared a list of supposed criminals with no
fewer than 93 names upon it, including Zoran’s, and thought that he was the victim of
“an international sex-vice ring” which was trying to poison or drug him. His home
life collapsed, and he began to live as a fugitive. His writings became more and more
obviously deranged. I have quoted several examples in the course of this judgment,
but hundreds more could easily be added.
211.
The conspiracy by which Bane believed he was threatened was a worldwide one, and
its members included (apart from members of his family) his bankers, colleagues in
the pharmaceutical industry, solicitors and accountants. Bane believed that the
conspirators were responsible for events throughout the world, and that organisations
such as the IRA and the Mafia were their puppets. As Professor Howard put it, “he
sees a sort of huge international conspiracy on a ginormous scale”. That Bane took
the worldwide nature of the threat to his personal safety entirely seriously is shown by
the fact that he did not think it was safe to visit Switzerland or Yugoslavia, and the
fact that he adopted a peripatetic existence, living in hotels and changing his address
frequently. The intensity of his delusions about the female members of his family is
vividly illustrated by Jovanka’s uncontradicted evidence that Bane refused to attend
his mother’s funeral in 1992, or to visit her after she had a heart attack; while Mr
Hughes confirmed that he made his loathing for his former wife and his sister
absolutely clear. There was no rational explanation for any of this hatred, and one of
the most poignant features of the case is the contrast between Bane’s vitriolic
statements about his mother and sister and their enduring affection for him.
212.
I have emphasised the huge size and comprehensive scope of the supposed
conspiracy, and the fact that Bane regarded Zoran as being implicated in it, albeit as a
victim, from at least the end of 1984 onwards, because in the light of this evidence
alone I find it quite impossible to see how the Court could be satisfied that Bane’s
delusions had no effect upon his decision to disinherit Zoran in his 1988 and 1989
Wills. After all, if Bane believed that his son was a criminal, and that he was under
the malign influence of the three original arch-conspirators, how could he possibly
have appreciated and given proper weight to Zoran’s claims upon his estate? At the
very least he might well have supposed, as a rational or semi-rational consequence of
his primary delusions, that his fortune would not be safe in Zoran’s hands because of
the risk that his wife and sister, or indeed other conspirators, might get their hands on
it. Moreover, in the light of the evidence from both experts that untreated delusions
will normally persist once they have become established, there is no basis for
supposing that Bane may have had lucid intervals when he was free from his
delusions and able to “comprehend and appreciate the claims to which he ought to
give effect” in a rational manner.
213.
However, the evidence does not of course stop there, and I accept the submission of
Miss Montgomery QC that the evidence has established a number of compelling links
between Bane’s delusions and his decision to disinherit Zoran. The most important of
those links seem to me to be as follows.
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