Pro-Putin commentator investigated over ‘appalling fraud’ from his days as barrister
SCOTLAND YARD is investigating a disgraced London barrister turned pro-Putin commentator for allegedly forging a letter from the first female head of the Supreme Court.
Alexander Mercouris is said to have forged the signature of Baroness Hale, the court president, on a bogus document to try to fool a former client.
Lorna Jamous accused Mr Mercouris, 56, of fraud following “appalling” behaviour towards her in a case that led to him being disbarred.
He was struck off by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) in 2012 after making a series of bizarre claims about Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
Mrs Jamous says Mr Mercouris caused her psychological and financial damage after lying to her in an action she brought against Westminster Council when her son was taken into care for a year. In 2009, Mrs Jamous was offered a £5,000 settlement by the council over the treatment received by boy, then aged 10. However, Mr Mercouris persuaded her to turn down the offer, claiming he had managed to get the settlement increased to £983,000.
When Mrs Jamous began asking why the money had not materialised, to convince her he had obtained the settlement he showed her a letter purporting to be from Baroness Hale, expressing concern that the payment had not arrived. The letter was a forgery.
He then claimed Lord Phillips had pleaded with him to drop the case in exchange for a £50,000 bribe and that he had threatened to have his 102-yearold grandmother put into a care home. At a standards hearing in 2012, Mr Mercouris was struck off.
Mrs Jamous, 53, a beautician, never received any payment from Westminster council as a result of Mr Mercouris’s botched handling of her case.
Within a few years, however, he had reinvented himself and become a commentator on world affairs for Russian TV news outlets and websites.
This led to him being regularly interviewed by RT, a news channel funded by the Russian government.
But his past is now threatening to catch up with him after the Metropolitan Police announced it is investigating allegations of fraud and misconduct in a public office against him.
Mrs Jamous, who is also suing Mr Mercouris for £200,000, said: “I am very pleased that the Met finally appears to be taking the matter seriously.”
Mr Mercouris said: “I’m told the investigation is in its early stages. I absolutely deny any allegations. Ms Jamous knows that at the time I had mental health problems. It happened when I was ill and not in my right mind.”