A man has been jailed for nine months for faking his mum’s signature to obtain a £180,000 mortgage.
Greig Thomson, 38, a former marketing adviser for the annual WestFest event in Dundee, faked Maureen Thomson’s signature behind her back.
He used her details to get a mortgage under her name to buy a property in Springfield, Dundee, in May 2007.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard he had done so to impress a new girlfriend.
Thomson, of Wellgrove Street, previously admitted the fraud in court and appeared for sentence today.
Solicitor Paul Parker Smith said his client was able to pay any fine levied on him.
He added that Thomson had always intended to pay the mortgage.
But Sheriff Alastair Brown jailed Thomson, saying: “It appears that you were motivated by a desire to be seen as a person of significant standing and substantial success.
“What you did was undermine the system, and the point of regulation of the financial system is to protect lenders and to protect the public.
“You inferred a seriously bad debt on a lender.
“It must be understood that white collar crime is a serious matter.
“The fact that it’s done from an office with a computer and desk, rather than in the dead of night wearing a pair of gloves, doesn’t make a difference to me.”
The court had earlier heard how Thomson had been unable to get a mortgage himself because he was “too big a risk”, having only just become a self-employed mortgage broker and adviser.
But just two months after purchasing the property Thomson failed to make payments as scheduled and didn’t pay anything else until November.
Payments were sporadic after that — and his arrears got so high that the house was repossessed in April 2014.
It was sold for £126,126 – leaving an outstanding debt of £79,690.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told the court that Thomson’s mum knew none of this and assumed her son had bought his home legally.
It was only after Mrs Thomson received demands to pay the cash owed that she became aware of the scheme.
In fear of her own home being repossessed, she sought legal advice and informed the company she had never applied for a mortgage at that address.
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