An ex-solicitor has been found guilty and jailed for five years for five counts of fraud by false representation.
Ian Charles Macfarlane, 56 and of West Street in Winterborne Kingston, was handed the jail term at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday 3 October 2016. He was found not guilty of another count of false representation. The conviction came at the end of an 11-day trial. He was also ordered to pay court costs of £18,000.
Macfarlane had previously been struck off as a conveyancing solicitor in Blandford in 2005.
The court heard that he identified freeholds of properties, mainly in the London area, where he recognised that the freeholder had been missing or absent. He then falsified documents to the land registry in order to transfer properties into the name of his company, Kingston Property Management or other false names.
In order to do this Macfarlane broke the trust of Chester & Co solicitors, who he used the name of in order to process documents through the land registry.
Once he became in control of the freeholds, he was then able to demand ground rent, offer lease extensions and the sale of the freeholds to leaseholders living within each property. He stood to gain in excess of £200,000 had he been successful.
Detective Sergeant Tom Isaac, of Dorset Police, said: “The case started in 2011 and involved a complicated and extensive investigation into the possession of a number of properties.
“I would like to pay tribute to the witnesses in this case – many of whom had to travel from across the country in order to give evidence at court during a prolonged trial.
“I hope this sentence shows that we take allegations of fraud extremely seriously and will bring offenders to justice.”
