An ex-lawyer who “despicably” conned a late friend’s daughter out of almost £3,000 has been ordered to perform unpaid work.
Ian Davidson was found guilty of defrauding the vulnerable client after being instructed to wind-up her father’s estate.
The 62-year-old’s trial at Dundee Sheriff Court heard how he told Pauline Martin to make out a cheque for £2,739.31 in his name instead of law firm W & AS Bruce, for which he was working as a consultant at the time.
Davidson claimed he was “absolutely horrified” to be presented with the cheque and said he banked it before paying her the cash.
However, a sheriff branded his version of events “ridiculous” upon finding him guilty last month.
At his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Sheriff John Rafferty told him: “You committed a despicable and mean crime in circumstances where you were in a position of trust as a solicitor and an experienced executor.
“You were a friend of the now-deceased and the now-deceased contacted you by telephone around two days before he died and explained his position to you.
“He asked you to look after his estate. He asked you to look after his vulnerable daughter and you agreed.
“Following his death, you breached that promise and did so in a cold and calculating way.”
Concerned with own reputation
Shameless Davidson was accused of prioritising his own reputation in a pre-sentencing interview with social workers and showing no remorse towards Ms Martin.
Solicitor John McLaughlin said Davidson, a first offender, would be willing to comply with a community-based order and understood the gravity of the offence placed him at risk of a stint in prison.
Sheriff Rafferty said: “There are no mitigating factors and the criminal justice social work reports indicate that you show no insight into the impact of your offending on your victim.
“You show no remorse. You are, however, concerned for your own self and reputation and concerned about damage to your reputation.
“Your reputation can now be seen in its true light. It is with considerable hesitation that I move away from a custodial sentence.”
Davidson was ordered to perform 280 hours of unpaid work and pay Ms Martin £600 in compensation as an alternative to custody.
Trial evidence
The trial heard that in the summer of 2017, Ms Martin, 59, contacted Davidson to wind-up her father Bernard’s estate.
As part of this, she said he told her to get a cheque made out in his name but not to tell anyone “because it would look like money laundering”.
Chasing a receipt from the law firm, she told partner Peter McDevitt what had happened and he told the trial it caused him a “great deal of concern” and would have been in clear breach of the Law Society of Scotland rules.
Despite repeated attempts, answers from Davidson were not forthcoming.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Davidson, of Clovis Duveau Drive, said Ms Martin had got into “an awful tizzy” in the bank and had agreed to have the cheque made out to him.
He said: “I was totally shocked.
“Stupidly, after she was crying a bit – and I’ll regret this to the day I die – I said ‘I’ll bank the cheque and give you the cash’.
“I remember saying to the dad ‘I’ll look after her’.
“The daftest thing I’ve ever done in my life – I was just helping somebody out.”
Davidson claimed he did not benefit from the money and gave it directly to Ms Martin, reacting in “sheer horror” after being informed of the fraud complaints in 2019.
The ex-solicitor – now a director of a Dundee property firm – was struck-off in 2022 after stealing from his dead father’s estate.
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