High Court Declaration Sought In Perrin Property Case

Mr Chris Lehane, Official Assignee in Bankruptcy in Ireland, is seeking a declaration from the High Court relating to the beneficial ownership of property transferred into the sole name of Mr Albert Perrin by his wife Mrs Heather Perrin.

Mrs Perrin is understood to have transferred the property situated at Lambay Court, Malahide, Co. Dublin, into her husband’s sole ownership, in 2012, a month after she had been sentenced to 2½ years in jail for deceiving a then 83-year-old client.

Mrs Perrin is understood to own a half-share in a large two-storey house, complete with stables and 5 acres of land, purchased in 2005 and situated at Ballykelly outside of Cashel, in Co Tipperary, in the heartland of horse breeding and racing country.

Mrs Perrin, who to date is the only Irish judge ever to have been given a prison sentence; declared herself bankrupt in 2016, asserting debts of some €572,000 to Ulster Bank; €500,000 to the Irish Revenue Commissioners and €19,753 owed to three separate credit-card companies. Mrs Perrin’s debts are understood to have exceeded her liabilities by some €865,890.

Mrs Perrin, who had a solicitor’s practice in the coastal suburb of Fairview, Dublin, before being appointed to the bench, had her son’s name written in to the will of an elderly client, Mr Thomas Davis. Her daughter Sybil was also set to receive a share of €500,000 or half his estate, before the deception was uncovered.

The transferred stated property was put on the market by Mr Perrin, one year later in 2013, with a guide price of €650,000, but was later withdrawn from sale. Dublin house prices today would indicate that this property is worth possibly €1million, with a nearby property having exchanged hands for €1.125m in 2010.

A number of other parties are also believed to have lodged claims on the property on the basis that Mrs Perrin still retains a beneficial interest. They include Glenda Gilroy, alleging theft from her son, Gareth, a minor; Noel T. O’Hanrahan, the solicitor who bought Perrin’s Fairview practice when she became a judge, and the Frederic Ozanam Trust, which runs St Vincent de Paul, in relation to a €40,000 bequest made by a client of Mrs Perrin.