‘Royal’ minister who conned brothers out of £400k farm is sued for another £750,000
A CHURCH of Scotland minister who conned three elderly brothers out of their £400,000 farmhouse is facing a damaging new claim that he also stole nearly three-quarters of a million pounds of their cash.
Last month, The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that the Rev Ivan Warwick – who was once given the honour of preaching to the future King Charles – had defrauded the vulnerable OAPs and tricked them into handing over their home.
Now the disgraced clergyman is accused of abusing a position of trust to drain more than £700,000 from their bank accounts.
The 69-year-old minister – who is suspended from Kirk duties – is set to appear in court and face claims that he and another man took money from 14 accounts belonging to Hugh, David and Roderick McCulloch.
Papers from the civil case claim ‘considerable debits’ were made from the accounts and that bank statements show ‘expenditure in, and cash withdrawals from, places where the brothers did not frequent’.
Warwick, who earned between £25,000 and £35,000 a year as minister for Fodderty and Strathpeffer Parish Church in Ross-shire, recently put his five-bedroom home in 18 acres of grounds in Dingwall on the market for offers over £488,000.
Last night relatives of the McCullochs said they had been the victim of an ‘outrageous’ fraud. Their cousin Hugh Fraser said: ‘This was
‘It is fraud to the highest degree. It’s a disgrace’
an outrageous crime. To me this is just fraud to the highest degree. It’s a damned disgrace.’
In 2013, Warwick, his wife Jocelyn, 60, and their friends Douglas and Marie Stewart, both 70, befriended the McCullochs.
The brothers, who had lived together for decades at Logie Farm, near Muir of Ord, south of Dingwall, trusted the charismatic preacher and Douglas Stewart.
The minister and Stewart were granted power of attorney over the brothers in 2013 and tricked them into giving away their home for free. Last month, the two couples were ordered to pay the brothers £390,000 after a civil case at Inverness Sheriff Court.
In her judgment, Sheriff Sara Matheson slated Warwick for using his position to add a ‘veneer of respectability’ to the scam.
She said: ‘The disposition of Logie Farm was signed by the brothers when they were 84, 82 and 79 years, of deteriorating health and susceptible to influence. The Warwicks and Stewarts took advantage of the brothers and procured the disposition by fraud or circumvention.’
Warwick was also criticised for taking £40,000 from the brothers – money he claimed was a gift he only accepted so as not to offend the ‘exceptionally generous’ men.
Hugh and David McCulloch, who suffered from dementia at the time of the fraud, have since died. The details of the scam emerged after NHS Highland started an investigation into the brothers’ welfare.
In 2018, Roderick instructed solicitors to revoke Stewart and Warwick’s power of attorney, prompting Highland Council to appoint an independent financial guardian for the brothers who then launched a civil case on their behalf after she reviewed their finances and discovered the fraud.
Now a second civil case has been launched, alleging Warwick and Stewart abused their power of attorney to spend £705,000 from the brothers’ accounts between February 2013 and May 2019. Lawyers for the McCullochs are seeking £705,901 plus 8 per cent interest from the citation date. They claim the cash was spent without the brothers’ knowledge and at places where they had never been.
Warwick and Stewart deny any wrongdoing and claim the brothers always had access to their accounts and approved spending.
Court papers show the pair insist their role was restricted to helping the brothers with their ‘financial management’ and cash was used, at the brothers’ request, to ‘make payments for the farm, make payments for utility bills and services and purchase heritable property’.
Warwick also says he had access to only two out of a possible 14 disputed bank accounts and Stewart took ‘a more pro-active role’ in managing the McCulloch brothers’ finances. The case is scheduled to be heard next year.
Yesterday the Church said: ‘We note the ruling of Inverness Sheriff Court. This matter is subject to internal discipline proceedings and we cannot comment further at this stage. Minister Ivan Warwick is currently suspended from carrying out any ministering duties.’