Lawyer sues student bride over loan for college fees

Jun 21 2009 Exclusive by Derek Alexander

A LAWYER is suing a student bride after he gave her £12,000 to pay her way through college.

Solicitor Niels Lockhart, 58, is fighting to get the money back from 22-year-old Yasmin Erdil.

Lockhart claims he offered the loan to the Lithuanian, who got married last week, to help her out of financial trouble and to stay in Scotland.

He says he gave Erdil, a former client, cheques for £5785 and £6427 in April.

Married Lockhart, who runs a legal firm in Kilmarnock, has launched a civil action to claw back the cash amid fears she is about to leave the country.

Erdil, of Kilmarnock, married fiancé David Barcock last week and friends say she plans to move to England.

She was studying for an HNC certificate in social science at Kilmarnock College when she received the cash.

Lockhart lodged a writ at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court this month to try to have Erdil's RBS account arrested.

He claims he gave her the cash to settle college fees and "problems she had regarding heresidence in Scotland". His writ says the money was to be paid back on demand - but Erdil has not returned a penny.

A source said: "It's very unusual for a lawyer to lend a client that sort of cash, especially when there doesn't seem to be any guarantee she'll be able to pay it back.

"People are wondering why he would lend that sort of cash in the first place." Erdil said: "I don't want to talk about this - it's my wedding day." Lockhart, who has three daughters and lives in Ayr with his wife Kate, specialises in matrimonial and civil cases.