Heather Perrin, the only judge in the state to be jailed for committing a criminal offence, owed more than €500,000 to Revenue and €572,000 to Ulster Bank when she was declared bankrupt last month.
Perrin, of Lambay Court, Malahide, Co Dublin, had only €387.50 in the bank when she went bust, but owed almost €20,000 on three credit cards.
In total, Perrin’s debts exceeded her liabilities by €865,890. The former solicitor, who was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for deception, after being convicted of inducing a client to leave almost half his €1m estate to her children in his will, described herself as “an unemployed legal practitioner” in her petition for bankruptcy.
She claimed to be surviving on a monthly pension of €790.
She noted that her husband, Albert, was the sole owner of the family home in Malahide and that her children were grown up.
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Land Registry records show her name was removed from the house’s deeds in 2012, a month after she was given her prison sentence.
She declared ownership of shares worth €49,050 in two companies, New Ireland Assurance and Great-West Lifeco. She also declared a half-share in a four-bedroom house outside Cashel, Co Tipperary. She valued her half-share at €175,000 but noted there was a mortgage on the house of €572,000 and that it is €111,000 in negative equity.
Perrin, 60, also declared ownership of a 2008 Peugeot 308 worth €8,000, jewellery worth €18,000, other possessions worth €6,000 and €20 cash.
Among her debts were €19,753 to three credit card companies, a sheriff warrant bill of €2,591, and a legal bill of €2,605. Her biggest debts were a €502,995 Revenue bill and €572,000 owed to Ulster Bank.
Following her conviction for deception, Perrin subsequently pleaded guilty to a second offence of false accounting and was given a two-year concurrent sentence. She was also found guilty of professional misconduct. She was struck off the roll of solicitors in 2014.
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There are a number of outstanding cases against Perrin in the High Court, including one from the solicitors’ firm that took over her practice and blew the whistle on her “chaotic” bookkeeping and allegations she had misused client money. She is also being sued by the Frederic Ozanam Trust, which runs St Vincent de Paul, over a €40,000 bequest made by a client for whom Perrin acted as executor.