Former East Dunbartonshire council leader compared himself to 'Tinder Swindler' while scamming partner

An ex-council leader who compared himself to the Tinder Swindler has been convicted of a £188,000 romance fraud.

Andrew Polson, 53, duped his partner into handing him the cash in a property scam between May 2021 and March 2022.

The former East Dunbartonshire Council head convinced the 72-year-old that they would own homes together, which would be refurbished and sold or rented out for profit.

However, the then Conservative politician put his sole name on the title deeds of two properties without telling her.

Polson also used the money the woman transferred into the company accounts for property repairs to fund his lifestyle, which included trips and his mother-in-law’s birthday party.

Polson, who was the director of charity radio station Revival FM, used their bank card to pay for an outing to a casino and refurbishments for one of the properties.

Polson, who now sits as an independent, was found guilty on Wednesday of defrauding the woman.

He was also convicted of embezzling £9,018.47 from Revival FM.

The court heard that Polson had known the woman for 24 years, having met at church when he was an organ player.

They formed an ‘intimate’ relationship in 2013, which took a break in 2018 as Polson got married, but resumed in May 2021.

Polson formed the ‘AA Lettings’ company with the idea of flipping properties.

The victim told jurors that she “trusted” Polson and did not sign any paperwork to start the business.

The mum-of-three used part of her divorce settlement to pay Polson £40,500, which she believed was to buy out his former partner’s share of a property in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

She later gave Polson £146,000 to purchase a home in Bearsden, which she thought would be solely in her name.

Polson drove the woman to a lawyer’s office once the transfer had been made.

She said: “He suggested that I stay in the car, which now seems ludicrous to me.

“He ran in to seal the deal. Unknown to me, he put the property in his name.”

The woman recalled a conversation in which Polson, who then lived in Glasgow’s Mount Vernon, allegedly wanted to stay in the Bearsden property as he needed a residence there for the upcoming council elections.

She claimed that Polson told her “don’t be ridiculous” at her suggestion that he should pay her rent to live there.

When asked why she transferred the cash to Polson despite being told it was going to be her property, she replied: “He said it was the easiest way to do it and he would look after me.”

The victim was also putting in around £200 a month into the AA Lettings account to cover repair costs on the two properties.

The witness stated that she thought that Polson was topping up the bank account as well.

However, when she got access to an AA Lettings bank statement, she found that she was funding Polson’s lifestyle.

She said this included his social life, weekends away and his mother-in-law’s 70th birthday party.

She stated that she received no money from the AA Lettings venture.

The woman visited her bank in March 2022 when she had a conversation with one of their employees.

She told her: “I said that Andrew suggested that I watch the Tinder Swindler one night, and I watched about five minutes.

“I felt uneasy and started recognising characteristics that had been happening to me.

“Andrew phoned me later that night and asked if I watched it, and I said I didn’t finish watching it.

“He asked why, and I said that it was not my kind of thing.

“He asked if it reminded me of him as he thought that he was better than the Tinder Swindler.”

The matter was then reported to the police.

The woman stated that her total financial loss as a result of her dealings with Polson was £496,000. The Bearsden property has since been put in her name and is up for sale.

When asked about the emotional impact upon her, she replied: “I’m not sure I can put that into words, I’m usually okay with words, but it has been immense.

“It’s not so much the financial impact, which has been huge and changed my life, but the betrayal I have felt and the stuff that was going on behind my back that I was completely unaware of.

“I completely trusted Andrew, and it has impacted my family. It is unforgivable what he has done to my children.”

Jurors also heard that Polson used the bank card from the now defunct Christian charity radio station Revival FM to pay for blinds, tiles and a kitchen for the Bearsden property.

He also used the card to pay £2,500 to the Alea casino near Glasgow city centre in August 2021.

Polson claimed in his evidence that his card and the Revival card were similar and that he used the wrong one.

Prosecutor Sean Docherty told jurors in his closing speech: “Polson breached the trust of [the victim] and took advantage of their close personal relationship.

“He took advantage of his intimate knowledge of her finances and what she was entitled to from her divorce settlement.

“In addition, he breached the trust of the charity and used the funds from their direct debit account for his own expenditure.”

Gary McAteer, defending, told jurors in his closing speech that the woman was “utterly beyond belief” and “lied” about Polson’s involvement.

Polson was elected in 2022 but was suspended by the Conservative Party shortly after, when the fraud allegations emerged.

He had co-led the council with the Liberal Democrats’ Vaughn Moody from 2018 until 2022.

His wife, Aileen Polson, who was a Lib-Dem councillor, was also suspended from her party amid an investigation.

Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Paul Reid, who granted Polson, of Bearsden, bail meantime “with hesitation”.

The sheriff told him: “You defrauded someone you were in a relationship with for a considerable amount of money.

“The custodial threshold has been passed and my advice to you is to organise your affairs.”