Lottery winner who secretly sold girlfriend’s £56k house ordered to pay back just £1,500

A fraudster who secretly sold a £56,000 house he bought with his girlfriend after they won a lottery jackpot has been ordered to pay her just £1,500.

Both Kevin Scott and Fiona Young’s names were placed on the deeds after they snapped up the property in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. They had scooped £20,000 on a lottery scratch card in the proceeding months.

But when Ms Young moved out after the relationship ended, Scott, 47, went to a local legal firm with another woman pretending to be Ms Young and entered into discussions about selling the terraced property for £45,000.

The deal was signed and Scott pocketed the proceeds before Ms Young, who did not consent to the sale, called in police which led to the scheme being uncovered. Funds of £40,000 were traced to an account belonging to Scott’s mother while £5,000 had been given to a friend.

The woman pretending to be Ms Young has never been identified while the house was sold seven months later for £80,000 by the new owner.

Scott, from Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted obtaining £45,000 by fraud between August and October 2018. Sheriff Ray Small ordered him to pay Young £1,500 compensation and he was also placed under supervision for three years and handed 150 hours of unpaid work.

Depute fiscal Neil Thomson had previously told the court: “The relationship ended and she moved out of the house leaving him there. The accused then entered a local solicitor’s firm at that time with another female who claims to be Fiona Young, but is not.

“He then sells the house for £45,000 and it is quickly resold for £80,000. This went unnoticed until Miss Young realised she must be due money from the house and found it had been sold without her consent.”

The sheriff rejected a bid by prosecutors to have Scott banned from contacting Young. A review into the case will be heard in September.