DNA test proves care worker is heir to sprawling £50m estate

A struggling care worker has inherited one of Britain’s finest country estates after he was found to be the illegitimate son of the property’s previous aristocratic owner who died last year.

After a lengthy battle and a DNA test to prove he was the rightful heir, Jordan Adlard Rogers, 31, moved into the sprawling 1536-acre Penrose National Trust estate estimated to be worth £50 million.

Jordan spent years trying to prove that Charles Rogers, whose family had lived on the estate for generations, was his father but his efforts to secure a DNA test were repeatedly rebuffed.

When Charles, 62, died of a drug overdose last August a test was finally carried out.

In a post on Facebook Jordan wrote it had been “a hard three months of so fighting for what is truly mine” adding: “I’m sure there will be lots family barbecues in the future I also have a tennis court.”

He has wasted little time in embracing his new found inheritance, installing an outside gym at the property and buying a Mercedes C63 to sit on the drive.

Jordan and his partner Katie Hubber have also welcomed a baby boy last month.

The Rogers family have lived on the site between Helston and Porthleven in Cornwall for generations, gifting it to the National Trust in 1974 in exchange for a 1,000-year lease to continue living there.

An inquest held in Truro last week heard that Charles had struggled with drug abuse for many years and died in his car outside his Grade-II listed farmhouse.

Jordan said he had suspected that Mr Rogers was his father since he was eight.

"He offered to do a DNA test when I was younger but it didn't happen," he said.

"Then when I was 18, I knocked on his door and asked if I could have the test and he told me to do it through the solicitors. I was 18, so had other priorities."

He added: "I'm now starting to get my feet under the table here.

“People say I'm lucky but I would trade anything to be able to go back and for Charles to know I was his son. Maybe then he might have taken a different path.

"I don't need to work anymore so want to set up a charity and help the Porthleven and Helston communities.”