Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Scammer’s extension
59-year-old given more time to pay back £49k
A CONVICTED scammer is making a final bid to sell his house — and spare himself another jail sentence.
Gerald Sunnie, of Aboyne Avenue, Dundee, was previously jailed for taking £49,000 from three OAPs across the country between August 2013 and August 2014.
He sent most of the money to “individuals across Europe” and kept some for himself.
Sunnie received cheques from three pensioners as part of a lottery scam.
His trial at Dundee Sheriff Court last year heard he had become involved after being duped into believing he had won a £200,000 American lottery prize.
The 59-year-old was jailed for six months and a proceeds of crime action was brought against him by the Crown Office to retrieve all the money lost by his victims.
Sunnie has spent the last few months trying to sell his house at offers of £45,000 or over but has been unsuccessful, solicitor Gary McIlravey told a hearing at the court.
Mr McIlravey accepted that even if Sunnie sells his house, he will still have to find the outstanding few thousand pounds.
He said: “Mr Sunnie has had severe difficulty coming up with the money. The only asset he has is his house which he has been trying to sell.
“It looked like a deal was going to be struck but this fell through. He has only had one viewing in September and no offers since then.”
When Sheriff Alastair Brown asked why the house was only put on the market recently, Mr McIlravey said that jobless Sunnie simply hadn’t had the money to do so before then.
The initial period for Sunnie to ask for further time to pay expired in September.
If he is unable to come up with the money, Sunnie could face an 18-month prison sentence.
But Sheriff Brown allowed him a further six weeks for payment.
He said: “I will extend the period for payment by six weeks.
“There are two purposes for that. One is to allow the accused to continue to market the property.
“The other is to allow the Crown to make an application for an enforcement administrator.
“We will sort out the procedural consequences of that when we see what happens.”
Sunnie’s case was continued until November 23.