An Aberdeen solicitor has been found guilty of embezzling £120,000 from an elderly client who lived in a nursing home with dementia.
John Sinclair, a former partner at James and George Collie Solicitors in Aberdeen, had denied taking large sums of money from bank accounts belonging to 90-year-old former university lecturer Dr Doreen Milne.
The 69-year-old lawyer had been granted power of attorney over the retired doctor’s finances, following her dementia diagnosis in 2014.
During a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Sinclair also refuted the allegation that he had repeatedly deleted computer entries to cover his tracks and defeat the ends of justice.
But it took a jury of nine women and five men less than two hours to convict Sinclair on both charges.
It was Sinclair’s own colleagues at the time who uncovered his dodgy dealings after an internal probe that led to the police being called in to investigate further.
Duncan Love, a current partner at James and George Collie Solicitors who led the firm’s inquiries into Sinclair, said the firm was “pleased” with the verdict on Wednesday.
He added that co-workers had been “shocked and saddened” by Sinclair’s wrongdoing.
Describing it as a “long and difficult trial”, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told the disgraced solicitor: “The jury has found you guilty on these two charges.
“Given you have not previously been convicted of a crime, I am required to order that background reports be carried out on you.”
She deferred sentencing Sinclair, of Murtle Den Road in Aberdeen, until next month.
‘Damning’ papers in desk were ‘smoking gun’
During the court case, jurors heard Sinclair had abused his power of attorney over Dr Milne’s finances by transferring tranches of money – between £10,000 and £20,000 at a time – from his victim’s account into his.
Dr Milne, who is now deceased, was living in a nursing home at the time of Sinclair’s dishonest plot.
It was also revealed that, while investigating Sinclair, his co-workers had broken into his locked desk using a hammer and a screwdriver.
Inside they found “damning” paperwork that showed he owed £66,000 in unpaid taxes to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Giving evidence, Duncan Love described the documents as like finding “a smoking gun” and that they immediately padlocked Sinclair’s office “because we considered it might be a crime scene”.
Jurors were then shown a handwritten agreement penned by Sinclair, which he said proved he was allowed to take Dr Milne’s money.
The “effective IOU” outlined values of money that Sinclair would “invest” for her and repay to his elderly client with a 5% return, the court was told.
But the letter was neither dated nor signed by Dr Milne, prompting Mr Love to question its authenticity as a “genuine” document.
He also claimed that he thought Sinclair had written it “after he was found out”.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar accused Sinclair of “progressively emptying” Dr Milne’s account “because he needed some capital”.
She said: “I’m going to put it to you that there is only one witness in this case who has lied repeatedly – and that is you.
“You have repeatedly plotted, schemed and demonstrated extraordinary duplicity in your affairs with Dr Milne’s finances.
“And then you have had the audacity to write and concoct an IOU.”
Ms MacVicar added that Sinclair had been “entrusted” with the 90-year-old’s money and then used her savings “like he was the bank of John Sinclair”.
The handwritten document acted as “an afterthought and a self-serving mechanism to cover his own back”, she said.
But while giving evidence in his defence, Sinclair claimed that, due to the power of attorney, it was “up to him” how the money was spent.
“I treated it as an investment in me,” he said.
‘Wrongdoing was detected and reported to relevant authorities’
Sinclair’s defence solicitor Ian Duguid KC also suggested that the investigation into his client was not conducted by police officers but “by his own employers”.
“The involvement by police, in this case, is negligible to be almost nonexistent,” Mr Duguid said.
“This is an investigation by a bunch of law partners and employees into another of their employees.”
However, speaking to the Press and Journal following the verdict, Duncan Love hit out at Sinclair’s defence team who he said “criticised staff for acting as amateur sleuths”.
Mr Love added: “In truth, it was due to the exceptional alertness, diligence and indeed detective skills of members of the firm that his wrongdoing was detected and reported to the relevant authorities”.
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