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Lord Ballyedmond leaves £399 million in will

Edward Haughey (Lord Ballyedmond) pictures with his wife Mary at their home in Rostrevor
Edward Haughey (Lord Ballyedmond) pictures with his wife Mary at their home in Rostrevor Edward Haughey (Lord Ballyedmond) pictures with his wife Mary at their home in Rostrevor

Norbrook boss Lord Ballyedmond, who died in a helicopter crash close to his Norforlk estate in March last year has left £344 million in his will.

Probate records filed in Belfast show the 70-year-old businessman made sure all members of his family were financially taken care of with the majority of his estate going to his wife and three children.

Edward Haughey married Mary Gordon Young, a former solicitor, in 1972 since his death as deuputy chairman of Norbrook she has became Northern Ireland's richest person estimated by the Sunday Times along with her two sons James and Edward who are directors at the firm to be worth a combined fortune of £1.4 billion.

Having grown up on a family farm north of Dundalk, he travelled to the USA at age 19 and worked for a medicine firm before returning in 1969.

After his death his estate was paid £6.12 million from an insurance policy. Norbrook's main factory in Newry, Co Down employs 1,700 and has continued to operate profitably since his death.

The self made multi millionaire bought Ballyedmond castle in the 1980s from which he derived his peerage and also owned homes in London, Dublin, Co Louth as well as Gillingham Hall in Norfolk all of which have been left to his family.

The family base at Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin is currently for sale for £2.8 million.

Having founded Norbrook veterinary pharmaceutical company he was the first person since the Marquess of Lansdowne in the 1920s to sit in both upper houses of the British and Irish parliaments, first as a senator in Dublin and later in the House of Lords.

Haughey valued his privacy to the extent that he once built a 12ft wall screening off his South Down home from the public, a move that put him in conflict with the county council.

Norbrook, which now manufactures both human medicine and products for farm animals bills itself as the largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company in the world.