"His kitchen was full of flies, full of empty bottles and tins of beans, " said his next-door neighbour William Black, who befriended Gillman when the former moved into Florence Terrace in Bray last year. "There was a little two-ring cooker which looked about 50 years old that he used. There was no heating to the best of my knowledge. We wanted to clean it up, but he wouldn't let us. He seemed to survive on bags of crisps."

Gillman was old money, inheriting from a wealthy aunt. But he was also a member of the Georgian Society, and spent most of his life collecting paintings, photographs and other artworks. When he was found dead by Black and another neighbour last November, he had amassed a book collection worth over half a million euro. "[We] were surprised at the quantity and rarity of so many of the treasures, " wrote Eamon De Burca of De Burca Rare Books, who evaluated the collection.

Stocks and shares made up a large amount of Gillman's estate. He had over 2 million worth of AIB shares, and 7.3 million in Bank of Ireland shares. He also had a quarter of a million worth of Diageo shares.

Gillman left most of his estate to two men he knew from the Georgian Society:

Brian Fitzell, who lives in England, and writer Peter Pearson, who lives in the south-east.

Along with his brother Sylvester, who passed away a few years ago, Gillman spent his life travelling the country and attending auctions and collecting memorabilia from stately Irish houses. He was frequently acknowledged in books about art, antiques and architecture in Ireland.

The value of some of his art works neccessitated a strong room in his house in Bray where he stored particularly valuable paintings, at least one of which he had loaned to the National Gallery.

The reality of this "Aladdin's Cave" . . .

as Black puts it . . . was literally lit up one day. Gillman, unable to change a lightbulb, asked Black to assist him. "The room was in complete darkness, but when I put the bulb in and the light came on, it was unbelieveable. There was silver, books, paintings, marble statues, antiques of all description. It was incredible."

Gillman hoarded newspapers, and four and a half tonnes of papers were removed from the house when he died, "even to get into his bedroom was nearly an impossibility, " said Black, "The floor was nearly coming down with newspapers."

Gillman wrote Black a letter saying the 18 years he spent in Bray were the happiest of his life. Shortly before his death, Black brought him to see the tall ships in Waterford.

"He saw it on the television he used to have on in the house for colour and light, and he asked me to take him down. He came in a pair of runners, no socks, an old hat and an old coat."

Just two weeks before Gillman died, he went to the Oxfam shop in Bray and bought a small second-hand sports coat and a cup and saucer, a humble purchase for someone who was worth so much, yet lived like a pauper.