ONE of Northern Ireland's best known psychics has won his appeal against being found guilty of fraud offences at a care home.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, sitting with Lord Justice Weatherup and Mr Justice Colton, declared Patrick Doak's convictions for false accounting unsafe after hearing new evidence from a former colleague who countersigned money sheets at the former Owenvale Court residential home in west Belfast.
The 52-year-old spiritualist, who always protested his innocence, said outside court: "I have had my character and my career destroyed."
The charges, involving less than £100 in total, dated back to September 2006 when he managed facilities run at the time by St John of God.
Money was regularly entrusted to senior staff on behalf of residents at the Springfield Road home.
Mr Doak, formerly of Lagmore Meadows in Dunmurry, was found guilty last year on five counts of false accounting and received a one-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.
His lawyers argued at the Court of Appeal yesterday that he was wrongly found to have acted dishonestly in dealing with new balance sheets created to correct staff errors.
A residential worker who co-signed the sheets but never testified at the trial gave evidence on his behalf.
The prosecution accepted her account raised issues which could potentially have gone before the jury.
The judges held that the co-signatory operated to ensure the "integrity" of the ledger as well as confirming the amounts and the new evidence could have been relevant to Mr Doak's case.
"For that reason we consider the convictions in relation to the five counts are unsafe," Sir Declan said.
Outside court Mr Doak insisted he would never have been prosecuted if the colleague had been interviewed during the original investigation.
He said: "My take-home pay on a yearly basis was in excess of £50,000, why would I have done this for the sake of £94.50?"
The psychic helped set up the International Spiritualist Union and ran the Centre of Angels complex on Falls Road, but said the criminal case and publicity has taken a huge toll and forced him to move home.
"My reputation as a manager has gone and my reputation as a spiritualist has gone - they brought my family and me to our knees."
His sister Bridgene Kelly (56) is also set to appeal her convictions for false accounting and forgery from the same case.
