An 83-year-old woman who acted as a witness to an elderly businessman's will that left the bulk of his £420,000 estate to two delivery men has denied conspiring with others to fake it.

Edna Oaten, of Orpen Gardens, Lockleaze, told a court she signed the will as a favour to Percy Rawlings, who died, aged 90, in February 2007.

The will left the majority of his estate to brothers Philip and Peter Gibbs, who run FJ Gibbs in Grosvenor Road, St Paul's.

But Mr Rawlings' family has gone to court in a bid to challenge the signature on the will, which they say is not his.

Yesterday at Birmingham Civil Court, Mrs Oaten said she saw Mr Rawlings, who owned Rawlings furniture shop in Church Road, Lawrence Hill, sign the will in front of her.

Philip Gibbs, 49, of Crown Hill, Soundwell, and Peter Gibbs, 43, of Gloucester Road, Staple Hill, say they believe Mr Rawlings left them the estate as a thank-you for looking after him.

Giving evidence, Mrs Oaten said: "I had gone to buy a three-piece suite at the shop. The brothers answered the door. I recognised them because I had met them before at Bristol North Club.

"Mr Rawlings was there and called me upstairs. I paid him and he then came out to me with a piece of paper and asked me to sign the will.

"Peter and Philip were there but didn't say anything about the will. After I signed the will, Mr Rawlings followed me downstairs and as I went out, another man came in and Mr Rawlings handed him the piece of paper."

Mrs Oaten denied claims that Mr Rawlings was not at the shop at all or that a third party had asked her to sign it.

She claimed Mr Rawlings signed the will in front of her and that since that day on March 8, 2004, she had not spoken about the event to the Gibbs brothers.

"When the police came to my door I was a bit shocked because I thought I had just done something nice for the man," she said.

Questioned by the brothers' representative Michael Roberts, Mrs Oaten denied any suggestion that she had conspired with others to make a fake will and said she was aware of the punishment she could face, despite her age, if she had.

Earlier, Mr Rawlings' niece Theresa Beddis, 57, who lives in Coventry, told the court she had returned to Mr Rawlings' furniture shop to look for further signatures because she was concerned it was a forgery.

Mr Roberts said he believed Mrs Beddis was attempting to "blacken their names before they opened their mouths" and that, despite the matter being reported to the police, no action was taken.

Mrs Beddis responded: "The officer told us it was a civil matter because it involved a will – that is why we're here today."

She added that her uncle's accountant Jane Norton had told her that the signature on the will was not Mr Rawlings'.

Mrs Norton said: "He signed documents in so many different ways. Sometimes his handwriting was shaky; sometimes it was not."

Mrs Beddis added: "She categorically said the signature was not his to me. All the examples she sent us were all shaky. She didn't produce any that were not shaky."

The case continues.