Dundee lawyer Ian Davidson found guilty of fraud and branded ‘liar’ by sheriff

Ian Davidson, 62, who was struck from the roll in 2022, scammed Pauline Martin, the daughter of his late friend, by making her write a cheque out to him instead of law firm W&AS Bruce.

In 2017, Ms Martin, 59, contacted Mr Davidson to wind up her father’s estate.

She told the court: “He instructed me to arrange to get my dad’s ISA and make it out in his name and that took a few weeks. It was part of my dad’s estate. He told me I would have to go to Nationwide and get the cheque made out.

“I gave it to Mr Davidson. It was made out to Mr Davidson on his instructions. Mr Davidson said it shouldn’t have been made out in his name and I said he asked me to do that.

“He said we couldn’t tell anyone about this as we would both be in trouble because it would look like money laundering.”

John McLaughlin, defending, said his client had asked Ms Martin to take the cheque back and have it made out to W&AS Bruce.

Ms Martin said: “No, not at all. I said I would take it back and get it changed and he said not to tell anybody about the cheque.

“I would have had it changed if he told me to. I had only carried out what Mr Davidson instructed me to do.”

In January 2019, Ms Martin spoke to Peter McDevitt, a partner at the firm, over her concern about the lack of receipt – by which point Mr Davidson was no longer at the firm.

Giving evidence, Mr Davidson said he was “absolutely horrified” at receiving the cheque.

He said: “She told me she had gone to the bank to close an ISA, they started to ask questions and she was getting in an awful tizzy. There seemed to be some problem and she said ‘they could make it payable to the solicitor so I got it paid to you’.

“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’.”

He was found guilty on Monday at Dundee Sheriff Court, with Sheriff John Rafferty stating: “In this case, I accepted Pauline Martin to be a wholly reliable witness. Her evidence regarding the Nationwide withdrawal money is supported by documentation.

“I listened carefully to your evidence and my considered assessment of your evidence is you are a liar and you deliberately came to court to lie about an offence.

“Your explanation is ridiculous.

“I find no coherent explanation as to why you did not respond to the emails, other than you were cornered and you knew well the offences you committed.”

He will be sentenced next month.