Legal firm helped bogus laird con me out of £½m, claims victim

Frank Houlgate raised the court action against Biggart Baillie, of Edinburgh, after falling prey to pensioner John Cameron, who had pretended to have an ancestral home and 315 acres of land in Fife.

Mr Houlgate alleged that the firm found out about the con at a late stage but did not tell him and “connived” in trying to set aside a legal document which Cameron had used in his scheme.

Biggart Baillie disputed liability and argued to Lord Glennie at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that the case should be dismissed.

However, the judge ruled it should be allowed to proceed, while stressing that, as yet, the court had heard only legal submissions. He said: “It is important to emphasise that no evidence has yet been led in the case.”

Cameron, 79, from Leeds, who has a history of fraud dating back to 1955, posed as the owner of Balbuthie Farm, Kilconquhar and spun a yarn about building a hotel and golf course.

He wore tweeds and drove a Daimler, and spoke of once having been a Lloyds Name.

Mr Houlgate, who runs an investment company in Leeds, was taken in by the scam. Another businessman was also fleeced by the conman.

Last year, Cameron admitted six charges of obtaining money by deception and one of making false representations, and was jailed for four years.

In the Court of Session case, Mr Houlgate, as Frank Houlgate Investment Co Ltd, said he met Cameron in 2004 and Cameron had told him he had an ancestral estate in Scotland worth £2.6 million which could be used as security. In 2006, Cameron took him to see the property.

Mr Houlgate stated that he had no reason to doubt that Cameron was the owner of Balbuthie Farm.

A document putting up the farm as security was drawn up by Biggart Baillie. A total of £480,000 was invested by Mr Houlgate in a series of payments, the last, for £100,000, being made on 30 January, 2007.

Mr Houlgate said he became aware of the fraud in July 2007, through a newspaper article in Leeds about a man who had been convicted of fraud. He recognised Cameron.

He contacted Balbuthie Farm and spoke to John Cameron’s wife. She told him she and her husband had had previous problems with Cameron fraudulently impersonating her husband.

According to Mr Houlgate, John Cameron’s name had been used in a fraud which came to light in December 2006 and a county court judgment had been obtained against him. His lawyers had written to Biggart Baillie in January 2007 to explain the situation.

Lord Glennie said: “[Mr Houlgate’s case] is that Biggart Baillie innocently assisted in the execution, delivery and registration of the security.

“At a later stage, when it was still likely that he might advance further sums, they became aware of the fraud.

“He says that, rather than tell him about the fraud, they accepted instructions from Cameron to keep quiet about it and helped with the drafting and execution of a discharge of the security.

“Those acts are alleged to amount to participation in or furtherance of the fraud.”