Watchdog’s concerns over police handling of ‘royal’ minister’s £1.1m scam against brothers
POLICE Scotland has been criticised by the official policing watchdog over the case of a crooked Kirk minister who helped defraud three elderly brothers out of cash and property worth £1.1 million.
The force has been ordered to explain why it apparently concluded no crime had been committed – even though the brothers had gone to a police station to report they were victims of fraud.
Officers took no action, only for the three men later to be evicted from their farm and put into care homes against their will by the Rev Ivan Warwick and his friend Douglas Stewart.
The pair tricked the brothers, who were vulnerable through age and ill health, into giving them power of attorney and drained their bank accounts of more than £750,000. Hugh, David and Roderick McCulloch had lived and worked together for decades at Logie Farm, Mulbuie, Ross-shire.
Now the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) has demanded Police Scotland explain its apparent lack of action.
A complaint to PIRC against the force was made by Helen Fraser, a cousin who had taken the brothers to the police station to report their concerns.
A PIRC report issued to Mrs Fraser last week said: ‘In our view, the complaint made is serious and complex, as it relates to an allegation that her relatives had been defrauded of a very significant sum of money.
‘We conclude that Police Scotland did not handle this complaint to a reasonable standard.
‘We recommend that Police Scotland carry out all further necessary and proportionate inquiry and provide the applicant with a wellreasoned response that addresses the crux of the complaint.’
Last night Mrs Fraser welcomed the PIRC report – and repeated her calls for a criminal investigation into what happened to her cousins. ‘I’m very glad the watchdog has taken my complaint against Police Scotland seriously,’ she said.
‘It defies belief that the police decided that what happened to my cousins was not a criminal matter when it was clearly a serious case of fraud. Up until now, I feel that this matter has been hushed up and has been a whitewash.
‘I hope PIRC’s decision to uphold my concerns will help change that and shine a light on some very dodgy goings-on. I am not going to give up on this.’
Mrs Fraser, 71, was visiting her cousins at their farm in August 2017 when they told her Warwick, 69, and Stewart, 71, were throwing them out of the home where they had lived for decades.
She immediately took them to Dingwall police station to report the matter – but no criminal charges were ever brought and police and social workers sided with Warwick and Stewart.
Details of the pair’s wrongdoing came to light only after Roderick eventually launched a successful civil action to recover cash from the sale of his former home.
The sheriff in that case ordered Warwick, Stewart and their wives to repay £390,000 from the sale of the farm.
A second civil case saw the two men told to repay the fortune taken from the siblings’ accounts. Sadly,
the brothers are all now dead and their former farm is being developed for housing.
After the first civil case concluded last year, Mrs Fraser complained to the force about its handling of the original allegations.
Police Scotland refused to go into details but insisted the matter had been fully investigated. Mrs Fraser then went to PIRC, which has now concluded that the police failed to properly respond to her complaint that it did not properly investigate in 2017.
Police Scotland has two months to comply with the commissioner’s recommendations.
In a statement, PIRC said: ‘We have concluded our complaint handling review in this case. Our report, setting out our findings and conclusions, has been shared with the applicant and the police.
‘We have made a single recommendation and will continue to liaise with Police Scotland until our recommendation is implemented.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said last night: ‘We note the recommendations of the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner.’
Warwick was known as a charismatic minister and was even invited to preach in front of the future King Charles in the church where the Queen Mother worshipped.
He remains suspended from carrying out Church of Scotland duties pending a disciplinary inquiry.