A solicitor who’s accused of swindling £120,000 from an elderly woman claimed a handwritten letter he wrote proves he could take her money, a jury has heard.
John Sinclair, a former partner at James and George Collie Solicitors in Aberdeen, is accused of removing a large sum of money from bank accounts belonging to Dr Doreen Milne.
The 69-year-old had been granted power of attorney over the retired doctor’s finances following the 90-year-old client’s dementia diagnosis in 2014.
Sinclair, of Murtle Den Road in Aberdeen, denies all the charges against him.
Jurors in the trial were shown an alleged agreement written by Sinclair for Dr Milne.
It’s claimed it outlined values of money that Sinclair would “invest” for her and repay it with a 5% return.
But the letter was neither dated nor signed by Dr Milne who is now deceased, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Witness claims Sinclair wrote letter ‘after he was found out’
Giving evidence for the second day, Sinclair’s former colleague at James and George Collie Solicitors, Duncan Love, told fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar that he didn’t believe the letter to be a “genuine” document.
He also claimed that he thought Sinclair had written it “after he was found out”.
Mr Love said he questioned why Dr Milne would “give away her money to someone who appeared to be desperate for funds”.
He described the handwritten document as “effectively an IOU” in which Sinclair “picked the pocket” of the 90-year-old woman and wrote the letter “after the fact and says he intended to pay the money back”.
Mr Love said: “I think it was formed after he was found out. If it was a genuine document, why was it not signed by Dr Milne with a date?”
The jury heard evidence yesterday that Mr Love had broken into Sinclair’s desk drawer with a hammer and a screwdriver.
In it he told the court that he found demand letters from HMRC, suggesting he owed more than £66,000 in unpaid taxes.
He said that after finding a number of incriminating documents, he and a co-worker padlocked Sinclair’s office because they “considered it might be a crime scene”.
‘There was no agreement’
During cross-examination by defence solicitor Ian Duguid KC, he put it to Mr Love that Sinclair claimed the letter to Dr Milne was among documents in the office that he had searched.
He also claimed that, as a “friend” of Dr Milne and her attorney, he had the power to make investments on her behalf.
“There’s a contention by Mr Sinclair that that document was in the office. This wasn’t a search by police officers, is that correct?” Mr Duguid asked.
“Yes,” Mr Love responded.
Mr Duguid continued: “In among those documents that you found, are you saying that letter wasn’t one of them?”
Mr Love replied: “I removed files relating to Doreen Milne and there was no such document.
“We had gone through all the documentation in his desk. I looked through all the papers and there was no agreement.”
‘Game of cat and mouse’
Sinclair is also accused of repeatedly deleting computer entries in an attempt to avoid detection.
It’s claimed that Sinclair approached a work colleague and asked him how to permanently delete an “event log” from his firm’s computer system.
Yesterday, Mr Love described how Sinclair would delete files relating to Dr Milne from the law firm’s computer system, only for him to reactivate them.
He claimed hours later, he would come back and find Sinclair had deleted them once more.
“It was almost a game of cat and mouse,” Mr Love said.
The trial, before Sheriff Morag McLaughlin, continues.
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