A 69-year-old solicitor has been struck off after headbutting a property developer.

Philip Saunders was in the Royal Courts of Justice in London in April 2016 during a long-running land dispute with Mohammad Reza Ghadami. Ghadami blocked Saunders from passing him in a corridor and swung his briefcase at the lawyer. Saunders responded by headbutting Ghadami,breaking his nose and putting him in hospital. He was convicted last year of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and given an 18-month suspended sentence.

 

This week Saunders was up before the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal. He told the tribunal that Ghadami had made an anti-Semitic comment and he lost his temper as a result. He said that he was "bitterly ashamed" of his behaviour and had not practised since the assault, but he denied that handing out a Glaswegian kiss in the middle of the Rolls Building constituted failing to act with integrity.

Unsurprisingly the tribunal disagreed. It found that there was no doubt that Saunders had assaulted Ghadami, and that whilst "fully understanding the explanation Mr Saunders had offered" it had no choice but to strike him off.