The Sun reports:
Sharon Osbourne has launched a High Court bid to remove her late hubby Ozzy’s long-term accountant as an executor of his will.
Papers lodged yesterday show the rocker’s widow, 73, issued a claim against Colin Newman under a law used to remove or replace estate representatives.
Ozzy died in July last year aged 76, weeks after a farewell gig with Black Sabbath in his home city of Birmingham.
His wife and two other executors, her niece Georgina Maszlin and assistant Melinda Varga, now want Mr. Newman removed from administering his ex-client’s estimated £100million ($135 US dollars) fortune.
He had looked after the couple’s finances since before they married in 1982 and is one of the most senior money men in the UK music industry.
Companies House records show he was a director of Ozzy’s main UK firm, Monowise Ltd, for years before quitting in April.
Sharon was appointed director last December, five months after Ozzy’s death, with the firm officially controlled by the “estate of John Michael Osbourne” — Ozzy’s real name.
Judges can remove an executor for a variety of reasons, including if they have already been involved in the will but then later decide to step away.
It is not clear if Mr. Newman is contesting the application or if he has agreed to stand aside.
He first met Sharon while working as a junior accountant for her father, notorious rock manager Don Arden.
He is credited on several of Ozzy’s albums and they were long-term pals.
The rocker is once said to have burst into his accountant’s Soho office swinging a dead rabbit and spraying blood on the walls.
Ozzy also slept on a park bench opposite Mr. Newman’s house in 1984 instead of going to the hospital where Sharon was about to give birth to their daughter Kelly.
Mr. Newman, 79, also acted as former X Factor judge Sharon’s literary agent.
He and Sharon’s legal representatives were invited to comment.