Cemetery plot conman is jailed for 16 months
Court heard Henderson forged burial deeds
A cemetery conman who pocketed thousands by forging burial deeds and mis-selling plots to grieving families has been jailed for 16 months.
The former superintendent of the Mount Vernon cemetery, William Henderson, was handed the sentence after admitting one count of “fraudulent scheme” in relation to his employment at the cemetery.
The 46-year-old’s trail of deceit involved 13 individual cases over the course of a nineyear period from 2006 to 2015.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Donald Corke said Henderson only stopped when the scheme began to unravel and “the damage had been done”.
He added: “You deliberately and systematically cheated people out of the legal and decent burial plots they were expecting by taking money for plots that were already owned, or were non-existent or otherwise unavailable.
“You have caused enormous distress. You did this in the most hypocritical and callous way, while pretending to be loyal to the church and a friend to people who were at their most vulnerable.”
Henderson’s modus operan- di typically involved him identifying and selling space in the cemetery to use for burials, for example unused areas under the site’s pathways.
However, there were also two cases involved “over burial”, in which grieving families were sold seemingly empty plots only to discover later that they already contained remains.
One family affected by his crimes were the relatives of Rose Walker, who was buried at the cemetery in 2013 after dying aged 86.
Dot Fraser, one of her daughters, said she hoped the former superintendent had learned his lesson. She said: “As far as I am concerned only dangerous people should be in pris- on and I don’t think Mr Henderson falls into this category.
“I am sorry he has received a jail sentence as he has already lost a great deal through his behaviour. I only hope he has learned his lesson.”
Henderson, of Baird’s Way, Bonnyrigg, was also ordered to pay back £14,720 to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who yesterday branded his actions at the Liberton cemetery as “reprehensible”.
A spokesman said: “Willie Henderson’s criminal activities were a betrayal of the trust put in him by the Archdiocese but also, and more disturbingly, a betrayal of the trust put in him by families who were grieving and vulnerable.”