Farmer who bought Britain's most expensive ram leaves £2m to charity

A SCOTTISH farmer, who once owned a share of Britain's most expensive sheep, has left more than £2 million to a heart disease charity after successful surgery had extended her own life.

Margaret Lyon of Turriff, Aberdeenshire, was part of the syndicate which bought Texel ram Tophill Joe, for 128,000 in 2003.

The widow, who died in December has bequeathed 2,246,435 to the British Heart Foundation.

Fellow Turriff farmer and former Aberdeenshire councillor Bruce Mair, said Mrs Lyon, who had survived heart surgery, wished to benefit others through her will.

He said close friends of Mrs Lyon knew she intended to make a generous donation to the charity. The most valuable part of the legacy is farm land worth 1.4m.

Before her death, at the age of 77, Mrs Lyon sold her valuable flocks.

Mr Mair said: "The terms of the will were a joint decision by Margaret and her husband Alan as they had no children and they were happy her money would go to a good cause.

"It was also a fitting donation as, during her lifetime, Margaret had many heart problems and survived quite a few years after major surgery.

"We shared an interest in sheep breeding and had a lot of mutual friends and colleagues."

Mr Mair and Mrs Lyon were part of a consortium that bought ram Tophill Joe for 128,000.

At the time of sale Tophill Joe was Britain's most expensive sheep - prized for his perfectly-shaped head and legs, tight skin and top quality fleece. The ram, who died in 2009, is still the second most expensive sheep ever sold in Britain and fathered lambs worth more than a million pounds.

The record for the most expensive sheep in Britain was broken in 2009 when another Texel, Deverondale Perfection, who was bred in Banffshire, was sold to a breeder in Lanark for 231,000.

A British Heart Foundation spokeswoman said the donation would help fund years of new research which could help save many lives in the future.

Marjory Burns, director of British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland said: "We are extremely grateful for this legacy from Mrs Lyon. Legacy donations are a vital source of income for us, and this gift will help to fund life-saving work across the UK.

"For example, 180,000 could fund the complete costs of one of our research projects to improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart disease for three years.

"Every legacy gift that we receive is important, particularly because these donations help us to plan for the future.

"Overall, legacies raised 52m pounds for the BHF across the UK last year."