Hillsborough couple's accounts frozen in £267k garden centre fraud case

Cameron Landscapes and Garden Centre is based on the Ballylesson Road in Belfast

A married couple jointly accused of possessing criminal property amounting to £267,326.46 have had their banks accounts frozen, a court has been told.

Catherine Lambe, who is 63, and her husband, Norman Lambe, 66, are from Burn Road in Hillsborough, County Down.

Mrs Lambe is further accused of false accounting and abusing her position of trust with Cameron Landscapes Ltd.

A defence application for legal aid was refused by a district judge during a preliminary hearing on Thursday.

The alleged offences took place over a period of more than a decade, between 15 December 2009 and 25 February 2020.

The abuse of trust charge relates to an allegation that Mrs Lambe made a number of payments to herself totalling £267,326.46.

The false accounting charge relates to a claim that she allegedly "destroyed, defaced, concealed or falsified certain account records or documents, namely the SAGE accounting system of Cameron Landscapes Ltd".

The firm runs a landscapes and garden centre based on Ballylesson Road, Belfast.

The couple's defence solicitor applied for legal aid, revealing that his clients' assets and bank accounts had been frozen as a result of the allegations against them.

After refusing the legal aid application, the judge adjourned the case for two weeks.