A scam impersonating dead people may cost us our home

A couple are facing being evicted from their home after being duped by a serial fraudster who ran a scam impersonating dead people.

Peter Bennett and his wife Jayne face losing their home after signing it over to John Sexton Sr in return for property titles which turned out to be worthless.

A BBC investigation has uncovered multiple cases of alleged fraud by Sexton or his associates, in which the signatures of dead people have been forged on legal documents to obtain land or property.

When confronted by the BBC, Sexton declined to respond to the claims.

The Bennetts' history with Sexton began in 2011, when they became desperate to leave their £160,000 detached house in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, because of long-term disturbance related to nearby building work.

They feared they would never be able to sell and, on hearing about their plight, local businessman John Sexton started calling round.

"It was like a kind of grooming type of thing," said Peter.

Sexton was offering Peter a way out, saying he held title to - meaning he was the legal owner of - areas of land in Lanarkshire, and could offer him a deal that would result in vast profits.

Peter told the BBC what Sexton promised them.

"'I'll take your house over', he says, 'and I'll pay off the remainder of your mortgage... and then I'll give you 50% of these titles, the Gartsherrie estate and the William Dixon estate'."

Peter says Sexton assured him the titles would be in huge demand from developers, and the swap would result in profits of up to half a million pounds within a year, allowing him to buy a new house.

Until that time, it was agreed the Bennetts could stay in the house and pay rent to Sexton. Their house was worth around £160,000 with £80,000 remaining on a mortgage.

"We signed up, signed believing that there was going to be some kind of Utopia at the end of the table," Peter said.

Sexton had produced documents from the General Register of Sasines, Scotland's historic deed-based land registry.

The documents suggested that Sexton's family had control of these titles.

This was based on a series of dispositions - or land transfer deeds – showing the property had been transferred to them by the surviving trustees.

When the contract was signed, these titles were then transferred to the Bennetts.

However, the titles were never the Sextons' in the first place.

In the case of the Gartsherrie estate, the documents stated this had been transferred to Sexton's partner, Maureen Allan, and a relative by the trustee Alexander William Lowson in July 2003.

The problem was that Lowson had been dead since 1984, and his signature had been forged.

The signature of the trustee of the Dixon estate had also been forged, according to documents seen by the BBC.

Peter said he felt "sick" when he realised what had happened.

"I felt stupid to be truthful to you, because that's what it makes you feel. Why would somebody go out their way to do this?"

Peter got into dispute with Sexton, who had passed the house to his son, John Sexton Jr.

Peter then went to the police but said they initially told him it was a civil matter.

Officers opened a case in 2019 and arrested and charged Sexton in 2022.

He was released and a report was sent to the procurator fiscal but he is yet to appear in court.

The Bennetts say they are in the dark about the police case.

The couple stopped paying rent to John Sexton Jr about 2020 while they fought to have their house returned to them.

In January, a court found that they had defaulted on the rent payments and they have been given weeks to vacate the house.

Peter says they still hope to have the contract he signed back in 2011 reversed, so they can get their house back.

"But it's a long, drawn-out situation and we're at the mercy of the Police Scotland and the Registers of Scotland's office," he said.

Registers of Scotland, which operates the Land Registry, told the BBC it "does not have the authority to investigate or determine allegations of fraud; such matters are for the police and the courts.

"If the courts determine that fraud occurred and agree to a request to set aside the deeds, the Keeper will update the register accordingly."

The Bennetts are taking their case to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. They hope it will quash the original transfer.

But our investigation has found this is the not the first time Sexton, who owns properties all over Lanarkshire, appears to have pulled this trick.

Annie Dundas Clark was born in 1911 and lived in Motherwell.

She was brought up by her uncle, James Watson, a railway worker who died in 1966, leaving her his modest estate.

But possibly unknown to Annie and the rest of the Clark family, the estate included a plot of land on the corner of North Orchard Street and James Street in Motherwell.

Annie died in 1985 and the land laid unclaimed until North Lanarkshire Council placed an advert in the local paper in January 2002 announcing plans to sell the land to a developer for just short of half-a-million pounds.

Enter John Sexton, who told the council he had traced Watson's descendants and was in negotiations with them to purchase the land.

Shortly after, a disposition - or legal document - was produced which transferred ownership of the title to a Sexton family associate.

This had apparently been signed on 6 February 2002, by Annie Clark - 17 years after she died.

The land was then transferred jointly to Sexton's partner, Maureen Allan, who in 2006 sold the plot to a developer for £120,000.

We traced Annie Clark's descendants.

Jim Clark, 85, her oldest surviving son, said he was "totally taken aback" to hear about North Orchard Street.

"Up until I was 17 I walked past the property on almost a daily basis.

"Although James Watson was my mother's uncle, I always knew him as 'grandpa' and was his namesake. I also knew that there was some question as to the ownership of the property at that time," he said.

"I think it outrageous that my mother's signature was forged 17 years after her death and would like to see the fraudster brought to justice."

Clark says he is considering reporting the case to police.

Sexton has convictions for VAT fraud dating back to the 1980s.

The BBC is aware of multiple other occasions of Sexton or his associates impersonating dead people to obtain titles.

We put all of our findings to Sexton and his partner Maureen Allan, but they did not respond.

When the BBC confronted Sexton at his home in Coatbridge, he ignored our questions.