Landmark decision finds judge guilty of trying to deceive elderly friend

A district court judge has been convicted of attempting to deceive her elderly friend out of half of his estate while he was a client of her solicitors’ firm.

Heather Perrin, aged 60, was found guilty by a jury yesterday after a seven-day trial which heard she tricked her victim into bequeathing half his estate, worth about €1m, to her two children.

Perrin ran a solicitors’ practice in north Dublin before being appointed a district court judge in Feb 2009, a month after she carried out the scam.