FORMER SOLICITOR MICHAEL Lynn intends to appeal his conviction after he was handed a 13-year sentence yesterday over stealing €18 million from six financial institutions during the Celtic Tiger.

Lynn’s lawyers, Mulholland Law, said they have been instructed to file an appeal against the conviction and sentence.

The law firm also set out its position last night that “this prosecution has left many unanswered questions and merits calls for an Inquiry into the culture of reckless Banking in Ireland”.

A jury found Lynn (55), of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow, guilty of 10 of 21 counts against him in a trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The jury was unable to agree on the other 11 counts.

Lynn had pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of theft between 23 October 2006 and 20 April 2007.

At the time, he was working as a solicitor and property developer.

The court was told that Lynn obtained multiple mortgages on the same properties, with banks unaware that other institutions were also providing finance.

Sentencing Lynn yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan set a sentence of 13 years but gave Lynn seven-and-a-half years credit for time spent in a prison in Brazil.

The judge said he believes Lynn is capable of reform but that the amount of money stolen was serious and Lynn had brought solicitors into “professional disrepute”.