Businessman Clarkson now facing prison sentence after being convicted of forgery
RACEHORSE OWNER’S CO-ACCUSED PAUL WRYNN ACQUITTED OF TWO CHARGES, REPORTS SHANE PHELAN
BUSINESSMAN and racehorse owner Conor Clarkson will be sent to jail after being found guilty by a jury of four charges relating to forgery and the use of false instruments in connection with a land sale.
Judge Patrick Quinn is to sentence Clarkson on Thursday and refused an application that he be allowed out on bail until then, saying the gravity of the offending was “worthy of an immediate custodial sentence”.
The offences are punishable with a jail term of up to 10 years.
Clarkson (60), of Cairnfort, Enniskerry Road, Stepaside, Co Dublin, was acquitted on four other counts of forgery and using false instruments, following a two-week trial.
A property developer whose fortunes dipped as a result of the financial crash of the late 2000s, the father of three was once prominent in horse-racing circles and owner of 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King.
His friend and co-accused, truck driver Paul Wrynn (48), of Robertswood, Glensynge, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, was acquitted of two charges relating to the witnessing of allegedly forged signatures.
The case at Wicklow Circuit Court, sitting in Bray, centred on a complaint by Enniskerry-based equestrian centre operator Jean Duggan that her signature was forged on four documents in 2014, which had the effect of expanding the right of way to a laneway near her home.
At the time, Clarkson was in the process of selling a parcel of development land at the end of the lane to Wealth Options Limited, a pension fund of property developer Richard Roche. But a solicitor for Mr Roche was unhappy with access to the site at Church Hill, Enniskerry, and asked for the execution of documents expanding the right of way before the €1.6m sale could be completed. Clarkson had bought the land years earlier for around €4m or €5m and was selling at a significant loss, with the proceeds going to a bank.
The court heard that Clarkson was tasked with procuring the signatures of local landowners, including Mrs Duggan.
She testified that she only discovered the existence of the documents in 2018, when they were shown to her son Tim by Mr Roche. She knew immediately her signature had been forged.
It is the second time Clarkson has been found to have engaged in forgery. The first time was in a civil court five years ago.
In 2019, the businessman withdrew an application for a personal insolvency arrangement writing off more than €70m in debt after it emerged he submitted a forged invoice to the High Court.
Details of that forgery were not put before the jury in Bray, as the information would have been prejudicial.
In the personal insolvency case, lawyers for creditor Promontoria queried whether transactions totalling over €4,000 labelled “NCL Reservations” in Clarkson’s bank statements were spent with Norwegian Cruise Line.
Clarkson claimed the sums related to the purchase from English IT company First National Computers Limited of essential computer equipment for his daughter, who suffered from a form of dyscalculia.
But Mr Justice Denis McDonald said it was subsequently demonstrated by Promontoria that an invoice created by Clarkson was a forgery and had never been issued by the IT company.
In an interview with the Irish Independent at the time, Clarkson said he had been under “enormous pressure” for the previous decade and “sadly a mistake was made”, which he accepted ownership of.
The businessman made no such admissions during his forgery trial.
Instead, his defence team sought to raise doubts over the credibility of evidence given by Mrs Duggan and her son.
It was suggested Mrs Duggan got things wrong and that she had in fact signed the documents – a deed, an indenture, a statutory declaration and a death certificate – at a solicitor’s office and a hotel in October 2014.
Much was made during the trial of conversations between Tim Duggan and Mr Roche that were secretly recorded by Mr Duggan. He later handed the tapes over to gardaí. The defence suggested the recordings showed Mr Duggan had used the forgery concerns in an attempt to “shake down” Mr Roche. Mr Roche testified he had been “in no doubt whatsoever” Mr Duggan had been looking for money. But Mr Duggan, who has a background in technology and banking, insisted neither he nor his mother ever sought money.
He said he had been on a fact-finding mission, trying to find out if Mr Roche had been complicit in the forgery.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Roche, who appeared as a witness for the prosecution.
Indeed, Mr Roche has been left counting the cost for the land deal. Planning permission for six houses at the site has lapsed and the property remains undeveloped. His company issued civil proceedings in 2020 in which Clarkson, Mr Wrynn and Mrs Duggan are named as defendants.
In the proceedings, which have yet to be heard, he has sought damages for breach of contract, fraud and conspiracy against Clarkson, as well as damages for conspiracy and misrepresentation against Mr Wrynn.
The proceedings also sought declarations that the documents at the centre of the forgery trial were legally executed, valid and enforceable. It seems probable those proceedings will now have to be amended given the outcome of the forgery trial.
Clarkson’s fraud went unnoticed for four years. In October 2018, a tree fell on a property in the laneway and there was uncertainty over who was liable for the damage. Tim Duggan discussed the matter with neighbour Gerry Ginty who, along with his wife Nora, was party to a 1989 right-of-way agreement with Jean Duggan and her late husband Peter, who died in 2013.
Their conversation led him to Mr Roche who, Mr Duggan was informed, had bought the land at the end of the lane. It was only when he spoke to Mr Roche that Mr Duggan became aware of a new right-of-way agreement from 2014. The problem was his mother insisted she knew nothing about it.
When the documents were shared with Mr Duggan by Mr Roche, his mother immediately believed her name had been forged. Mr Duggan described the revelation as “a punch in the gut”.
Two of the documents, the statutory declaration and the death certificate, were supposedly signed by Mrs Duggan at a solicitor’s office on Herbert Street in Dublin.
But the solicitor who witnessed them said she had no recollection of this 10 years on and could not recall if Mrs Duggan had been present. The jurat on the statutory declaration said Clarkson had identified Mrs Duggan to the solicitor.
But Clarkson accepted he had never met Mrs Duggan.
Mrs Duggan also said she never met Clarkson, had never been to Herbert Street and didn’t even know where it was.
The jury found Clarkson guilty of two counts of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument in relation to these documents.
Mrs Duggan also testified she had never met Mr Wrynn, a close friend of Clarkson who swore an affidavit saying he witnessed her signing a deed and an indenture.
Clarkson was acquitted of four counts of forgery and using a false instrument in relation to those documents, while the jury also found Mr Wrynn not guilty of two forgery charges.
Mr Wrynn’s defence team had argued he had nothing to gain by falsifying documents. He did not own the land or work for Clarkson or Mr Roche.