The partner of a prominent estate agent has had her conviction quashed after a court found that she had not been guilty of faking his will.

Chris John died suddenly at 47 in 2008 from a brain haemorrhage. His family firm Chris John and Partners, which is still very much in existence and which has counted Charlotte Church among its clients, was founded in 1937 in Pontcanna, Cardiff.

His death brought many tributes from friends and fellow estate agents.

Mr John, said in the courts to have left £5m, was originally thought to have died intestate.

At his death, he was survived by his young daughter and long-term partner Jill Clemo, whom he had met when she worked as office manager in his agency. They had been together since the late 1990s.

It emerged soon after his death that his divorce from his estranged wife, Helen John, had never been made absolute, meaning that under intestacy laws she stood to inherit half his estate.

Ms Clemo had always denied forging a will that came to light a month after Mr John’s death. That will gave Mrs John the former matrimonial home, with the rest of his estate going to his daughter when she turned 27.

In a bizarre twist, Mrs John admitted fabricating an addition to the will supposedly forged by Ms Clemo.

In 2011, Ms Clemo was convicted, and handed a fine and costs of over £8,000.

Last week, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction after another copy of the disputed will was found by Mr John’s sister.

Christopher Coltart QC, defending, said: “This was always a weak case, which got worse in the light of the new evidence which came to light. She has waited a long time for this day to come.”

A confidential settlement of Mr John’s assets was agreed in the High Court last year.