47-year-old Sarah Byrne inherited £ 1 million from her father’s business and planned to hide it from her husband, as she was about to divorce him. So that he would not know about the money, she decided to temporarily transfer 600 thousand to 58-year-old builder and designer Stephen Howie. It was assumed that the man will return the funds on demand, but then everything went wrong.
A little background
The family met Mr. Howie at the time when she was planning a small expansion. Although they did not choose him, Mrs. Byrne considered the man her friend and even shared with him her plans for a divorce from her husband. Fearing that after the divorce, the woman might be left with nothing, Howie suggested that she "place her assets outside the reach of her spouse." Allegedly, they need to be temporarily “presented” to him, and after the divorce proceedings they should be taken back.
Mrs. Howie found this idea great and transferred £ 600,000 (which is almost $ 750,000) to the builder. Howie wrote a letter stating that he would give the money back at any time. The woman kept him in a safe as evidence. All these events took place in January 2017.
A little later, the couple went on a joint vacation and decided to make peace. There was no longer any talk of any divorce. Then Mrs. Byrne told her husband about 600,000 pounds and at the same time wrote Howie asking them to return. But he refused to do this and said that he had already managed to invest them.
The couple brought the case to court.
The court's decision
The case was led by London judge Simon Monti. After hearing all the allegations and seeing the evidence, the court rejected Howie's testimony regarding the fact that the money received from Mrs. Byrne was an investment in his company. Fictitious documents declaring that the woman bought a 20 percent share were also recognized illegal.
Ultimately, the court granted Mrs. Byrne’s lawsuit and ruled that Howie should return her money in full. It would seem that the scam is open and everything should end successfully. That's just how to contact Howie now fails. Judging by the available information, the man fled to Japan.