Crooked lawyer axed
Solicitor is struck off over £1.6m property fraud
A SHAMED lawyer who helped a fraudster run a £1.6million scheme which saw vulnerable people conned out of their homes has been struck off.
John Craxton, 60, was hired by Edwin McLaren, 55, who targeted cash-strapped householders and induced them to unknowingly sign over ownership of their homes.
Craxton bought and sold homes on McLaren’s behalf and helped him build up a portfolio of properties. McLaren would buy a share in a house in return for the homeowner getting a cash boost.
But he got people to sign papers which resulted in them no longer owning their properties.
Houses were then sold and McLaren went on to pocket the proceeds with victims receiving little, if any, of the cash promised.
Craxton was granted immunity from prosecution for giving evidence against McLaren and wife Lorraine at a High Court trial.
Edwin McLaren was found quilty of 29 charges and jailed for 11-and-a-half years in May 2017.
Craxton, of Dumbarton, had removed himself from the roll of solicitors but the case went before the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal. It ruled he should never be allowed to return to the profession and called his actions “serious and reprehensible”.
Craxton did not take part in proceedings against him but wrote a letter saying he accepted his professional misconduct.
A FORMER refugee has been abused by racists after she was appointed rector of Edinburgh University.
One moron commented “deport this monkey” after Debora Kayembe posted a video about her new role on YouTube.
Another sick troll called her an “African leech” on the social media video site.
Debora, 45, fled DR Congo for her own safety in 2005 and has become a successful human rights lawyer in Scotland.
We told last year how the single mum of two had suffered racist abuse at her home in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian. She said yesterday: “I didn’t think that the racism would stop once I became rector. “When I saw the first two comments calling me a ‘leech’ I wasn’t surprised. “But the third comment, ‘deport this monkey’ really got to me. “I contacted the police as people need to be held accountable.” Debora will become Edinburgh’s first black rector in June.