Couple get 13½ years after ‘breathtakingly dishonest’ £1.6m con
Scam victims were left penniless and homeless
A RUTHLESS financial adviser and his wife who lived a luxury lifestyle after he duped dozens of vulnerable victims into signing away their homes were both sentenced to jail yesterday.
Edwin McLaren posed as a ‘knight in shining armour’ to gain the trust of his sick and vulnerable victims before selling their houses from under them, leaving them penniless and homeless.
The 52-year-old used the proceeds of an equity release scam to fund a luxury lifestyle which allowed him and his wife Lorraine to live in a £760,000 mansion and run a Bentley.
McLaren, of Quarriers Village, Renfrewshire, was jailed for 11 years for what a judge described as a campaign of ‘breathtaking dishonesty’.
He was convicted last month of 29 charges of fraud at the High Court in Glasgow following a 320-day trial, the longest in Scottish criminal history. His 52-year-old wife was found guilty of two charges relating to a fraudulent mortgage application on their own home. She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years.
McLaren, whose fraud totalled £1.6million, reeled in his victims through a newspaper advert, which offered to purchase a share in their home in return for the homeowner getting a much needed cash lump sum.
He then convinced vulnerable people to sign documents which resulted in them no longer owning their properties. The houses were sold on and McLaren went on to pocket the proceeds.
Victims received little, if any, of the cash promised, but McLaren enjoyed trips to Dubai, wore designer clothes and even splashed out £100,000 for a six-carat diamond ring for his wife.
One couple, unaware of the scam, were kicked out of their home when the new owner failed to pay the mortgage.
Among the many victims was John Dempster, who went to McLaren to sort out his finances in early 2010 after his wife died of cancer, and believed he was selling an 80 per cent share of his £120,000 house in Erskine, Renfrewshire.
Instead he was tricked into signing over the whole house to a third party. He told the trial he had trusted McLaren, saying: ‘I thought he was the best friend I could ever have. He seemed to really care.’
McLaren and his wife both maintain their innocence, but judge Lord Stewart told the conman: ‘The evidence showed breathtaking dishonesty in every aspect of your enterprise by you and those acting on your instructions. The jury found you to be an outright liar.’
Lord Stewart added: ‘It appears your motive was to fund an affluent lifestyle for yourself, your wife and your children. Vulnerable individuals were taken advantage of.’
Prosecutors welcomed the sentence passed down by Lord Stewart following the ‘incredibly demanding’ case, which began in 2015.
Deputy Crown Agent Lindsey Miller said: ‘I want to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the team who brought about this successful prosecution.’
Proceeds of crime proceedings have been started against McLaren. The couple’s fivebedroom detached home is currently on the market with an asking price of £710,000.
‘Motive to fund an affluent lifestyle’