A FORMER Alva shopkeeper has been found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after she lied about falsifying a contract, in a bid to claim almost £2000 from two former associates.

Throughout last week at Alloa Sheriff Court, Jane Irons (56) continually denied she dishonestly altered the document to her advantage with the intention to mislead and fraudulently obtain £1980 plus expenses and interest from two Menstrie women.

During the trial the jury heard that Karen Donaldson, the daughter of Wee County Cupcakes owner Susan Ward, had been searching for local retailers to stock and sell their baked goods.

In August 2011 Ms Donaldson initially approached Irons – who at the time was running The Sandwich Factory in Alva’s Stirling Street – with the hope she would take cakes to sell in the shop.

Instead, Ms Donaldson and Ms Ward entered into an agreement with the accused to share premises to bake and trade from the store in exchange for £110 per week rent.

Ms Ward took to the stand last Wednesday (2 April) as a Crown witness and told the court she initially bankrolled the venture for her daughter, but then pulled the plug after a couple of months as it was not making any money. At the time the initial business arrangement was agreed in August 2011, Irons had prepared two contracts. The three women signed both copies. Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson retained one, Irons the other.

Ms Ward claimed that at the time of signing the two copies were identical.

On Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson’s copy the £110 per week rent was recorded, but nowhere did it state they would be required to pay that until February 2012.

Instead, February 2012 was given as a date in which the contract would be reviewed.

As they believed they were not locked into a contract, both Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson upped sticks and moved out the Alva shop in October 2011.

Following this, Irons sent a letter to the women requesting rent payment up to February 2012.

The women did not pay, so the accused lodged a small claims action with Alloa Sheriff Court requesting £1980 plus expenses and interest from Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson.

When the case called in November 2012 Irons produced a photocopy of her signed contract.

Although almost identical to Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson’s, Irons’ copy had several additions – which included written lines that the £110 per week rent was to be paid up until February 2012 and the agreement was for a six-month term.

Both Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson said that they had never seen that contract before and that extra lines that were not in their copy must have been added in to Irons’ after they’d signed it.

A criminal investigation was then launched and Irons was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Defending, Mr Anderson claimed Ms Ward was lying and knew she had to pay rent for six months.

Ms Ward denied the accusation and stated she would never have agreed to sign if there was a specific time limit, as she didn’t know if it was going to work.

On signing a contract with no specified end date, Ms Ward said, “On hindsight I was very naïve.” The court also heard from forensic scientist Jonathan Morris, an expert in documents and handwriting.

Mr Morris testified that the bulk of Irons’ contract was ‘superimposable’ with that of Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson’s copies – which indicated it originated from theirs.

The additional lines – which substantiated Irons’ rent claim – were not superimposable, nor were Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson’s signatures.

This would suggest that Irons took a photocopy of the original handwritten contract – which Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson kept. This photocopy would then be signed by the Wee County Cupcake women and retained by Irons.

However, whether the additional lines were added in before or after Ms Ward and Ms Donaldson signed the contract could not be determined as the copy given to the court by Irons was a photocopy and not an original document.

Irons claimed she handed in the original signed contract she had kept with her small claims paperwork and the court must have lost or misplaced it.

Without the original copy Mr Morris was unable to say whether the extra lines were added in before or after the paperwork was signed.

The accused declined to take the stand during her trial but the court was played an audio recording of her police interview, held on 6 December 2012 following the small claims case.

Irons denied adding in the other lines for her own benefit. She was “flabbergasted” by the accusation, but had no explanation as to why the two contracts were different.

She said, “As far as I know they were identical.” Irons, formerly of Dollar but who now lives in Cupar, argued that the original document she allegedly handed in to Alloa Sheriff Court would be able to verify her story.

She exclaimed, “Without the original, how can I prove it?” When arrested at the end of the interview, a surprised Irons stated, “I’ve been arrested for something that I haven’t done.” Her defence counsel argued that she was innocent of any wrongdoing and the Crown had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she dishonestly altered the document to her advantage.

However, on Friday (4 April) the jury returned with a majority guilty verdict.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll ordered a criminal justice social work report and deferred sentence until 8 May.

He told the accused that all options – including custodial options – would be before the court.