Legal News

Solicitor stole thousands from victim of child abuse
Tue 17th Aug 10 - 11:26

A solicitor stole tens of thousands of pounds from his firm and clients – including almost £6,000 from a vulnerable victim of child abuse.

Martin Davy, 46, is facing jail after swindling more than £35,000 over three years while working in Manchester and Ashton under Lyne, Tameside.

During his years of scheming, he conned £5,950 from an elderly woman while acting as a trustee for her trust fund – set up using thousands in compensation she received after being abused by a Catholic priest as a child in Ireland.

Davy spent £3,000 of the money on furniture, £1,250 on decorating and £1,700 on a new kitchen, a solicitors’ watchdog confirmed.

He asked clients to pay him in cash, which he then pocketed, or via cheques which he paid into his personal account.

Davy, of Ridgeway, Lowton village, Wigan, pleaded guilty to eight charges of theft and two charges of false accounting when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court.

He asked for a ninth count of theft to be taken into account.

Davy was working for Rupert Wood and Son, in Ashton under Lyne, when most of his crimes – including the theft from the elderly woman – took place between 2005 and 2008.

He joined Geoffrey Lucas solicitors, in Didsbury, in March 2008, but was arrested by police after his employer alerted the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Davy was banned from working as a solicitor in March last year after admitting his offences before a solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal held on behalf of the SRA.

Davy fiddled the books at Geoffrey Lucas solicitors in a bid to cover his tracks. He transferred money between clients’ accounts.

The SRA tribunal found that he ‘admitted making false accounting entries in one client matter to cover up negligent conduct in another’.

He also intercepted letters from his former bosses warning Geoffrey Lucas solicitors of his conduct.

The SRA hearing was told that Davy was ‘struggling financially’ and had separated from his wife some years earlier.

After Davy pleaded guilty, Judge Robert Atherton told him: "I have got to warn you that a prison sentence is almost inevitable."

Davy, a father who worked as a solicitor for 21 years, will be sentenced in October.

Chris MacCafferty, Associate at Ralli says:-

“I am always disappointed to hear news of corrupt solicitors who have taken advantage of the vulnerable people they are supposed to be protecting.

Unfortunately the profession as a whole gets tarnished, in the public’s eyes, with the same brush. We therefore need to weed out this minority to eliminate as much as possible this corruption and where possible obtain compensation for the victims.”