Solicitor given two years for taking money as attorney

An Aberdeen solicitor has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling £120,000 from an elderly woman for whom he acted as attorney, and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

John Sinclair (69), a former partner at James & George Collie, began taking the money after becoming attorney in 2014. The woman, in her 90s and suffering from  dementia, was living in a nursing home.

When other members of staff at his firm realised something was wrong, Sinclair falsely insisted the woman had given him permission to transfer money to himself from her accounts. He was also said to have repeatedly deleted computer records in an attempt to conceal his conduct. When the Law Society of Scotland was alerted and began an investigation, he produced a note saying he had authority to borrow from the woman's accounts – but it was written by himself and was unsigned. 

A £66,000 tax demand from HM Revenue & Customs was also found on a search of Sinclair's office.

Last month Sinclair was found guilty after trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. He was sentenced this week.

Duncan Love, a partner at James & George Collie, said it was "due to the exceptional alertness, diligence and indeed detective skills of members of the firm" that Sinclair's wrongdoing was detected and reported. Full recovery of the £120,000 had been achieved.

He added: "As the evidence revealed, Sinclair acted as holder of a power of attorney, not as a solicitor or partner of our firm; he kept the existence of the accounts hidden and his actions could have been perpetrated by any attorney so acting."

Alison McKenzie, procurator fiscal for Aberdeen, said: "This was a brazen and egregious betrayal of trust by a lawyer who took advantage of his position to embezzle money from an elderly lady who had dementia."