Patrick Lennon handed a 12-month good behaviour bond without conviction

A former lawyer who has acted for Mick Gatto and Danny Nikolic lashed out at media after being found guilty of a drug charge.

Patrick Lennon surrendered his practising certificate because of the court proceedings. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Embattled ex-lawyer Patrick Lennon has flagged he would immediately appeal a finding of guilt for attempted ice possession despite being spared conviction.

Lennon, 60, defended the charge at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last year, claiming 11 grams of meth found in a shoulder bag during a police search in South Yarra belonged to a former client.

But magistrate Brett Sonnet on Thursday found the charge proven, handing Lennon a 12-month good behaviour bond without conviction.

Lennon’s barrister Dermot Dann KC said they would appeal the ruling.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet on Thursday found the charge against Patrick Lennon proven. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Asked outside court what he thought of the decision, Lennon said: “You’re a f--king shit journalist.”

Mr Dann earlier told the court the charges, which initially included more serious offences of trafficking and possessing proceeds of crime, had been hanging over his client’s head since 2020.

He said Lennon surrendered his practising certificate because of court proceedings and publicity of the case had forced him to resign as president of the Caulfield Cricket Club, a position he held for six years.

“This proceeding has had a significant effect on him,” Mr Dann said.

Mr Sonnet accepted Lennon, who once acted for Mick Gatto and champion jockey Danny Nikolic, suffered a loss of status and employment in a lucrative field.

“I’m not going to give you a lecture,” he said.

“I accept it’s been a fall from grace, I accept you’ve taken this matter seriously … and these matters have been hanging over your head for a long period of time.”

At a contested hearing in November, Lennon took to the witness box where he tried to pin the drug charge on his former client and footy WAG Hava Brandman.

The court heard Lennon and Ms Brandman, who struck up a friendship after he acted for her, were sitting in the lawyer’s Jaguar outside Vogue apartments in South Yarra when she pointed out an unmarked police car driving opposite them in July 2020.

They were pulled over before police proceeded to search Lennon and his car, finding a rolled-up $20 note in the door and a plastic bag containing meth and cash in a shoulder bag.

He claimed Ms Brandman later apologised and admitted placing the drugs in his bag because she did not think he would be searched because he was a lawyer.

But at an earlier hearing, Ms Brandman denied owning the drugs or putting them in Lennon’s bag saying: “The drugs were not mine, full stop.”

“I never put any drugs in Lennon’s bag and as a friend I would never do such a thing,” she said.

Lennon told the court Ms Brandman’s claim that she knew nothing about the drugs was a fabrication.

“It’s a blatant lie,” he said.