Solicitor ‘owed £190k by legal aid body he’s accused of cheating’

JURORS in the trial of a solicitor who denies eight charges of making fraudulent legal aid claims have been told that the alleged fraud totalled less than £10,000.

Defence barrister Brian McCartney QC also told the jury that the organisation the defendant is alleged to have defrauded, the Legal Aid Services Commission, had withheld £190,000 of payments from the defendant over a six-year period.

Damien McDaid (44), from Templegrove in Londonderry, denies committing the offences between July 2010 and December 2011.

The Crown Court trial has heard evidence from a senior fraud investigator who worked for the organisation that he was instructed to review application forms submitted by the defendant in 2010 and 2011.

He said solicitors and barristers who submitted such applications should keep a record of every legal aid case they were involved in, as well as a record of the hours they had worked.

Charges: Damien McDaid

The witness said all such forms, once submitted for payment, were examined by experienced assessors.

Mr McCartney told the jurors that the defendant was a sole practitioner whose work involved clients from a variety of disadvantaged backgrounds. They included battered wives, troubled children and clients with special needs.

Mr McCartney said the defendant’s work often involved him going to hostel accommo- dation to meet homeless clients or going to the homes of clients which had been damaged as a result of domestic violence.

Meanwhile, two police officers gave evidence of their involvement in a two-hour long search of the defendant’s Clarendon Street offices on the afternoon of October 4, 2012 as part of the police investigation into the alleged offences.

The first officer said that during the search operation he was responsible for logging people who entered and left the premises and to retrieve client files from the office.

He said it was a surprise search, but when the police arrived the defendant was fully co-operative and handed over the files police requested without delay.

The officer said an independent barrister was present to ensure there were no issues in relation to confidential information contained in the files.

A second police witness said his duties were to remove files from the office and place them into a police vehicle.

The trial continues.