A husband who sold the family home behind his wife’s back to pay a secret debt to a haggis tycoon has been jailed for 14 months.
Former bank manager David Cowper, 73, was locked up yesterday after he admitted covertly paying off millionaire butcher Simon Howie.
Cowper forged his wife Helen’s signature on official papers to secretly hand over their £280,000 family home to pay off debts to Mr Howie.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: “This fraud involved you forging your wife’s signature in a move that transferred ownership of your half-share and your wife’s half-share of the family home to another person without her knowledge or consent.
“She only discovered it about a year later when she checked the title deeds for another matter. Your previous occupation as a bank manager may have provided you with insight into how the fraud could be committed.
“This was a gross breach of trust towards your wife. There is no alternative to a custodial sentence in order to express society’s disapproval of your actions.”
Solicitor Jim Laverty, defending, said Cowper – who worked as Mr Howie’s finance director – had mounted debts and been afraid to tell his wife how much money he owed to Mr Howie.
Mr Laverty said: “He has recognised that it is his wife who is the main victim here, rather than Mr Howie.”
The court was told Mr Howie – who got £140,000 from the house sale – was still owed more than £50,000.
The high-profile butcher had been acting as a money lender to cover debts which had been amassed by his financial director.
Cowper had not told his wife he was in serious debt and she had no idea that he was secretly selling their home out from under her.
It was only when Helen Cowper made plans to draw up her will that the issue started to unravel and she discovered her husband’s plot with the haggis tycoon.
Depute fiscal Marie Irvine told Dundee Sheriff Court that Cowper and his wife had lived at 337 Blackness Avenue for 20 years and he was a retired manager for the Royal Bank of Scotland.
“He dealt with business banking for Simon Howie,” she said.
“He took early retirement and worked for Mr Howie as a financial director.
“In 2007, he approached Mr Howie asking to borrow money to purchase a house for his daughter. He borrowed £29,000 initially and over the next few years he borrowed more money and repaid £10,102.02.
“In November 2014, Mr Howie put pressure on the accused to repay the debt and he agreed to transfer the title deeds of his home.
“He said he and his wife planned to downsize. Mr Howie agreed to let them stay in the house for a period until it was sold and any profit would be distributed to him.”
Documentation was sent to Mr Howie’s solicitor, Bruce Renfrew at Thorntons, and purported to show Mr and Mrs Cowper’s signatures along with that of a third party.
The Land Register was updated to show the house was now owned by Mr Howie. It was more than two years later that Mrs Cowper uncovered her husband’s deception.
When she challenged him he owned up to being in debt but the sum owed was double what he admitted.
By this stage the marriage was ending and Mrs Cowper was making financial plans.
“She noted the house was in the name of Simon Howie. There was a forgery of her signature and she believed the accused had done it.
“He told her he had borrowed money from Simon Howie and the only way to pay it back was to transfer the house to him.”
Cowper, of Glenisla Terrace, Dundee, admitted transferring the title deeds of 337 Blackness Avenue to settle a £193,338.95 debt owed to Simon Howie.
He admitted “uttering as genuine” a letter of waiver and disposition on which he forged his wife’s name and presented it to Mr Howie’s solicitor, Bruce Renfrew, at Thorntons in Perth.
Mr Laverty said: “The matrimonial home was sold and Mr Howie received Mr Cowper’s half-share of that, which he believes was somewhere in the region of £140,000.
“The other half went to Mrs Cowper. He is well aware this was a significant breach of trust. He is a man who has never been in trouble before.
“He has worked in finance and never been dishonest.He’s aware the majority has been recouped but there is a substantial outstanding sum of around £50,000.”
