Judge found guilty of deception

A District Court judge has been found guilty of deception at the Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Heather Perrin (60) was found to have deceptively induced a client to leave half his estate to her two children when she was working as his solicitor.

After more than three and a half hours of deliberation a jury returned a unanimous verdict in the case.

Ms Perrin was released on bail and ordered to surrender her passport at Malahide Garda station in Dublin. She will be sentenced next Wednesday.

Judge Perrin, of Lambay Court, Malahide, Co Dublin, had denied deceptively inducing Mr Thomas Davis to bequeath half of his estate to Sybil and Adam Perrin at her office on Fairview Strand on January 22nd, 2009.

Mr Davis was not in court today.

In evidence last week he told the court his will was not read to him before he signed it in January 2009.

The copy he received contained an instruction to leave €2,000 to each of Ms Perrin's children in accordance with his wishes.

In advance of the verdict, Patrick Gageby SC, defending, had told the jury that sometimes "things that look suspicious aren't suspicious" and that there had been cases where the evidence seemed very strong but later turned out to be false.Judge Mary Ellen Ring had advised the jury that Judge Perrin was "not entitled to any more or less consideration because of her position".

After delivering their verdict, the jury was excused from service for seven years. Judge Ring told them they were welcome to return to court as members of the public next week if they wished to be present for sentencing.