A jury has been told that the 50 million euro fraud trial of a former solicitor will not necessarily be a difficult or a complex white collar case.

The remarks were made by prosecuting barrister Remy Farrell SC as he opened the DPP’s case against Thomas Byrne (47) who denies 51 counts of theft, forgery and other charges.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard by way of background that Byrne, now a waiter, practiced under the name Thomas Byrne and Company Solicitors in Walkinstown, Dublin 12 where he grew up.

It is alleged that between 2004 and 2007 he forged documents transferring his clients’ properties into his own name.

The prosecution claims he then used the documents to secure multiple mortgages from financial institutions including EBS, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.

Mr Farrell said one of the more distasteful aspects of the evidence is that a lot of his clients were elderly ladies, one was the daughter of his piano teacher and another was an old school friend.

Byrne with an address at Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, is alleged to have carried out the frauds at the ‘very zenith of the Celtic tiger’ when people were ‘getting large amounts of money from banks with pretty flimsy paperwork’.

Mr Farrell will conclude his opening address for the prosecution tomorrow and then evidence in the case will begin.