A woman giving evidence against a former friend who is accused of swindling her out of almost £85,000 broke down in court as she described the “devastation” of the experience.
Anne Mulloy, 63, allegedly lied to entice her friend, actress Helena Robinson, to hand over huge sums of cash between 2011 and 2017 by pretending to make a documentary about Hillary Clinton.
Speaking on day two of the trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court, Ms Robinson said it was “bad enough being scammed” but was overcome with emotion as she told how Mulloy continued asking her for money as she was at her father’s deathbed.
Ms Robinson was led through the long list of payments she had sent to her friend and described how it impacted her.
“It has been devastating,” she told the jury. “For myself and my father.
“When I look back, I am horrified that someone could do that to you.
“I had to leave my father’s bedside – when he was dying – to go and transfer her money to pay her rent.
“You would have thought there would have been some bit of kindness shown from her – but no, it could not wait.”
The court has previously heard how, in February 2012, Ms Robinson sent Mulloy £3,150 for a deposit on a flat in London’s exclusive Pimlico area. It is alleged no such rental existed.
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAllister asked why she hadn’t questioned Mulloy on not moving into the flat she had been paying rent for since 2012.
She replied: “She said it wasn’t her fault. She was ill. And the court cases with Aberdeenshire Council were preventing her leaving the area. She said she could have to go to court at a moment’s notice.
“It sounds crazy in retrospect.”
In 2014 Ms Robinson was told by Mulloy that she had “won” the court battle with Aberdeenshire Council, but the damages she claimed to have been awarded were “being withheld”.
Mr McAllister also asked if she had tried to make investigations of her own about the court case and she replied: “She told me there was this gagging order, so there would not be anything to search for.”
The court heard that Mulloy then told her friend she had raised an appeal through the European Courts and had won the case.
Messages from Mulloy to Ms Robinson dated August 31 and September 1 2015 were read out: “31/8/15: Hi Hon, we won! However, they cannot agree compensation, so we have to wait.”
The following day: “They paid £750,000 to the lawyer legal aid and £250,000 to the Citizen’s advice bureau. Us last to get money.”
“It was always just delays, delays, delays,” Ms Robinson said. “There was always an excuse”.
Ms Robinson sent Mulloy £2,500 in October 2015 for a trip to the US where she claimed she would be meeting with Hillary Clinton’s team to get an access letter for the behind-the-scenes campaign documentary.
Mr McAllister asked if she had ever been shown this access letter, she replied: “Yes, I saw a PDF version of it on email. It was short and sweet. It was a letter signed by Hillary Clinton on headed paper.
“I assumed [Anne’s lawyer] would be doing further negotiations and a final agreement.
“Anne said that was coming later.”
Then the court heard that while the US election was taking place, Mulloy was sending a running commentary to Ms Robinson on the behind-the-scenes drama.
One text read: “Phew what a night, and we’re not finished yet. In a spin room where it is crazy.”
The court heard Mulloy then asked for more money to extend her trip and she sent £1905 on November 3 2016.
Mr McAllister asked if there was something which happened in 2017 that made her report matters to the police, she replied: “Yes.”
He then asked if she had ever doubted Mulloy up to that point. She replied: “I never doubted Anne.
“So much of what she said was true – about knowing this or that person – I had met some of them with her.
“I feel like an idiot now. The fact that this was a friend for 27 years – I even got her to read at my dad’s funeral. It has been devastating.”
‘She did have some really good ideas’
Under cross-examination by Mulloy’s defence counsel Jordanna Blockley, she told the court that Mulloy had been her agent for her acting and voice-over career.
In 2009-10 the court was told Mulloy stated up a company with Zee Asha called A2Z Productions and the pair had made two pilots – called ‘Fans’ and ‘Angels in Kilts’.
“That was one of my favourites,” Ms Robinson, who appeared in EastEnders as the wife of infamous soap bad guy James Wilmott-Brown, said.
“She did have some really good ideas.”
Ms Blockley suggested that all the money she had transferred to Mulloy had been business loans and she knew to only expect repayment if the projects they worked on came to fruition. She replied: “No. They were temporary loans.”
She also suggested that she had been content to pay rent on the London flat that Mulloy wasn’t using, she answered: “No, not content whatsoever. It was a spiralling situation – if I didn’t keep paying it, I would not see a penny.
“It’s like how a gambler feels – if they win the next one it will all end. It was a vicious circle – I wasn’t happy about it at all.”
Anne Mulloy denies charges
The court was told that Ewan Angus, the commissioning editor at BBC Scotland, had been interviewed in 2018 and confirmed he had never met with Mulloy or been sent any details of a documentary about Hillary Clinton.
Jennifer Palmieri, Hillary Clinton’s director of communications during her 2016 presidential campaign. also stated to Police Scotland that she had never met Mulloy at any point and no one had been granted behind-the-scenes access.
Peabody Housing Association – which owns the London flat – also confirmed to police investigators that they had never rented a flat to Mulloy.
Mulloy is charged with taking a loan that she had no intention of repaying while claiming it was funding the film, computer repairs, trips to Glasgow and the rent on a London property.
It also states that Mulloy told the woman she intended to set up a business with her – and that she needed the cash to travel to Aberdeen for various legal court cases that never took place.
And it’s further alleged the 63-year old was in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance while also telling the woman she had no income.
The Crown Office will also seek to prove that Mulloy – whose address was given as Topping Gardens, Fraserburgh – obtained the money by fraudulent means and made false representation by claiming that she had signed a contract with a production company.
The trial, before Sheriff Craig Findlater, continues.
