Widowed Yvonne Sherrington, who was branded a 'Hitler' in a venomous dispute over a will with her three stepchildren, was battling to restore her name and a multi-million pound inheritance this week.

Mrs Sherrington, who was married to Edgware-based multi-millionaire solicitor Richard Sherrington, was told by a High Court judge last year that she was aggressive, intolerant and unable to come to terms with the unpalatable facts'.

Mr Justice Lightman said her husband had described her to friends as Hitler' and a witch', and his marriage as the biggest mistake of my life'.

Mr Sherrington, who founded Sherrington's solicitors in Station Road, Edgware, died in a car accident at the age of 56 in October 2001.

The crash occurred seven weeks after he had signed a will which left everything to Mrs Sherrington and nothing to his three children by his first wife, Gloria Daliah, 30, Donna, 27 and Ramon, 21.

In July, the children, whose family home is in Cheyne Walk, Hendon, won back their inheritance thought to be more than £7 million. Mr Justice Lightman ruled that the September 2001 will had not been properly witnessed and did not express their father's true wishes.

But this week, in London's Appeal Court, Mrs Sherrington's QC, Alan Boyle, described these findings as extraordinary' and said it was simply unbelievable' that Mr Sherrington, a solicitor of 30 years, would have signed his will without reading it. He said there was nothing suspicious' about it.

The children's barrister, Elspeth Talbot Rice, maintained that Mr Sherrington was devoted to his children and had been on good terms with his first wife, and that the will had shocked friends.

The hearing is likely to finish this week.