To the people of Skelleftea he was Tin-Can-Curt, the tramp who scavenged drink containers for recycling

But Curt Degerman was a financial genius who used the money he earned from collecting scrap metal to trade on the international markets.

Secret fortune: Degerman estate is worth Rs 4.5 crore

Now 18 months after his death, his relatives are fighting a legal battle over a secret 1 (Rs 4.5 crore) million pound estate he amassed by investing in shares.

For 40 years he spent his days touring the bins on an old bicycle stuffing the containers he collected into bags tied between the handlebars. But after he died aged 60, it emerged that he was a millionaire. He made a will leaving his entire fortune to the cousin, who visited him regularly in the months before his death. But when the full extent of the estate emerged the will was contested by another cousin who believed his father, Degerman's uncle was entitled to it.

Under Swedish inheritance law the uncle, whose name has not been made public, held the legal right to inherit his nephew's riches.