Derek Riordan given two weeks to pay £25k mortgage arrears

FORMER Scotland, Hibs and Celtic striker Derek Riordan has been given two weeks to pay £25,000 mortgage arrears, or face losing his house.

The 32-year-old soccer star with a “bad boy” reputation was not present in Falkirk Sheriff Court to hear a lawyer for the TSB Bank plc agree to a stay of execution on an application for possession of the property.

Solicitor Sarah-Jane Kissock, for the bank, said it was the first time the case had come up in court.

She said: “I am asking for a two-week continuation as the defender [Riordan] has advised that funds are in place for the arrears to be cleared in the next few days.”

Miss Kissock said the sum owed was £25,062.42.

Sheriff Linda Smith agreed to the case be continued until January 20th “for possible settlement”.

She asked whether the matter needed to be intimated to Riordan’s partner, Susannah Robinson.

Miss Kissock said she had “no instructions” about that.

Susannah is the mother of Riordan’s five-year-old daughter Ruby, who was born at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in July 2010.

Court officials would not confirm the address of the property at the centre of the action, but Riordan owns a luxury home at Castleview, near Airth Castle, Stirlingshire.

Major blaze

The house, at the time valued at £315,000, was hit by a major blaze six years ago.

Riordan was renting the property out at the time.

Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service received a call to the fire at 11.58am on December 18th 2009 from a man who was the tenant at the time.

Eyewitnesses said that by 2.30pm, firemen had the blaze under control and were damping down the roofspace and removing smouldering debris.

Central Scotand Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Kirsty Rimmer said: “On arrival, firefighters were confronted with a detached house that was well alight, with flames billowing from the roof.”

Some 35 firefighters from Stirling, Larbert, Falkirk, Bo’ness and Denny attended with five fire engines and an aerial ladder platform.

They managed to confine the fire to the roof of the house above the property’s double garage.

Earlier the same year, Riordan was fined £300 and had his licence endorsed with three penalty points at Falkirk District Court for speeding home on the M9 near Airth at up to 94mph in a hired BMW.

There was no-one in at Riordan’s home in Airth this afternoon, but a neighbour said Riordan was back living at the property.

His lawyer, Kathleen Moor, said that on the day of the incident in July 2008, Riordan was travelling home to Airth from Edinburgh.

‘Bad boy’ reputation

Riordan had a reputation as a soccer bad boy.

In August 2008, he was banned from every nightclub in Edinburgh for two years.

The previous August, he was cleared of battering two pub staff during a boozy night out.

And in August 2006, he escaped prosecution over another bar-room brawl.

Riordan also caused controversy in 2005 when he appeared in a video that showed him singing that Heart of Midlothian’s Rudi Skacel was a “refugee”. He later apologised.

In 2011 he went to China, claiming he felt “a marked man” in Edinburgh.

He signed for Chinese Super League club Shaanxi Chan-Ba, but their two-year contract was mutually terminated after just four months. He then signed for St. Johnstone on a short term contract in March 2012. Riordan then signed for Bristol Rovers, but he was released after a three-month deal. He has since had short spells with Alloa Athletic, Brechin City and East Fife.