Solicitor accused of forging land registry documents

A Northern Ireland solicitor has denied involvement in a £100,000 fraud in which a 94-year-old woman was allegedly cheated out of her home by her son and daughter-in-law.

Co Down solicitor Ann Ervine is accused of falsely claiming to have witnessed pensioner Annie Martin sign over her Saintfield home to her son George Ignatius Martin and daughter-in-law Mary Martin.

During an arraignment at Belfast Crown Court last week, Ervine (51), of Alpine Road Newtownards, pleaded not guilty to forgery and using false Land Registry forms with intent.

She was joined in the dock by husband and wife George Ignatius Martin and Mary Martin, both of Downpatrick Street, Saintfield, who both pleaded not guilty to obtaining property by deception, forgery and using false land registry forms with intent.

Legal teams for the Martins said they are ready to stand trial. A defence barrister for Ervine, who distanced herself in the dock from the Martins, said however a number of issues need to be addressed before she is ready to stand trial, including the disclosure of the victim’s medical records.

A previous court hearing heard that in 1997 Mary Martin’s name was added to Land Registry documents for Annie Martin’s land, which Annie Martin owned with her son.

The court was then told that in 2002 the property was transferred from the three names to the names of George and Mary Martin.

It is the prosecution case that this was done without Annie Martin’s consent.

Ervine’s barrister has argued that there is no evidence to suggest that she signed the land registry forms intending to prejudice the victim Annie Martin.

He told an earlier hearing: “There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest there is intent. Even if there was recklessness that is not enough.

“There has to be clear intention, if someone submitting a document and if that document may not be correct, they still have to have intent that they know it will result in a prejudice or inducement to someone else to do something.”

He added that the charges relate to forms of documents solicitors deal with every day and said: “What would happen if every solicitor was investigated in relation to something like this?”

All three defendants have been released on their own bail to stand trial on a date yet to be fixed.