Former solicitor Thomas Byrne has told his €52 million theft and fraud trial that he was being threatened by a property developer who constantly demanded money from him.
The 47-year-old with a former address at Walkinstown Road, Crumlin, Dublin, is accused of transferring clients’ homes into his name and using them as collateral for millions of euro worth of property loans between 2004 and 2007.
The separated father of three broke down in tears on the stand on several occasions during his evidence today.
He began by describing to the jury how he built up his legal practice in Walkinstown in the 1990s, and went on to detail difficulties he had with the Law Society in the mid-2000s over a shortfall in his client account.
Thomas Byrne said his biggest client was a property developer called John Kelly, a man he described as having a 'voracious appetite for money but no income'.
The jury has heard the relationship soured after they invested €40,000 together in a transaction involving three properties in Dublin on the Ballymount Road.
He said the deal was successful and they made a return of around €1 million.
Mr. Byrne said Mr. Kelly asked him for all of the profit to square up things with Ulster Bank - adding that when he showed reluctance, the developer became very aggressive.
The court heard John Kelly inveigled himself into the practice and started demanding that Mr. Byrne lodge money into his account.
The former solicitor said he soon became afraid of Mr. Kelly who intimated his brother knew people in the north.
He said he was financing Mr. Kelly's day-to-day living and that the requests became so heavy he could not cope and started drinking heavily and taking tablets.
Threats against his family
He said on one occasion he refused the developer's request for €250,000 to go to Spain.
He said minutes later he got a threatening phone call from Mr. Kelly's partner commenting on the lovely outfit Thomas Byrne's daughter had worn on her way to school.
Mr. Byrne said his family was being threatened, money was haemorrhaging out to Mr. Kelly and he was taking out bank loans to pay him.
He said it got to a stage Mr. Kelly required €450,000 every week and he had to find it.
He told the court 'despite what the newspapers have said, I didn't want to have this outlandish lifestyle, I was happy with my small little practice'.
He said the prosecution never gave evidence as to where the money went. 'I don't have any of it, I never did have any of it' he said.
Mr. Byrne gave evidence a close friend Brendan Dunne agreed to transfer a property over to him to help him secure a €4.5 million bank loan from Bank of Scotland.
He said his friend knew he was desperate and the arrangement was that he was to transfer the property back, which regrettably never happened.
He has described the day in October 2007 when Barbara Cooney, a solicitor in his office, called in the Law Society having confronted him over her signature being forged on a solicitor's undertaking.
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'I knew the whole thing was going to fall apart, it did' he said.
In tears on the stand, he said John Kelly told him to leave the country. He also spoke of his fears he was going to be killed.
He told the jury ‘I’m not here to say I’m completely, innocent. Of course I’m not. I've always been here to face the music’.
He also said that while he is terrified of what is going to happen it will be nothing compared to the years of being bullied.
Thomas Byrne has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 50 counts of theft, forgery, using forged documents and deception between 2004 and 2007.
