A HAIRDRESSER has been ordered by a judge to return nearly £380,000 ($660,000) left to her in the will of a longtime customer.

Jill Fraser, 72, from Surrey in southeastern England, befriended two elderly sisters, Ethel Wilson and Mabel Cook, after visiting their home to shampoo and set their hair each week for over 40 years, The Daily Mail reported.

Both women were widows and had a joint will which divided their assets between friends and relatives. Cook died in 1995, but Wilson lived until 2006, altering the will in the months before her death.

According to the newspaper, it was under the terms of the new will that Fraser stood to gain such a large sum, while family members, godchildren and close friends were left with nothing.

But in a highly unusual decision, the High Court ruled to uphold the sisters' original will, dividing the money between close friends and family but leaving nothing to Fraser.

Judge Jonathan Gaunt QC said that although both sisters were obviously extremely fond of Fraser, "they made mutual promises to each other and it was either an explicit, or implicit, part of those promises that the will of the survivor would not be altered so as to change those gifts".