This week crooked lawyer Alan Crickmore enters the Dodgy Solicitor pack for robbing the dead and blaming it on his charity work.

Crickmore's Gloucester firm was shut down by the SRA in 2010 after allegations of overcharging. A year later he was arrested when irregularities were discoverd in the books. An investigation uncovered that Crickmore had stolen almost £2 million from vulnerable clients living in nursing homes who didn't know what they were signing, and from the estates of dead clients whose wills he had drafted. In one instance he diverted money bequeathed to a dead client's brother to himself and, in order to conceal the fraud, didn't tell the brother, who lived in Poland, that his sibling had died.




Crickmore, 57, argued that he stole because his firm was left out of pocket by its "focus" on pro bono and charity work. Which might have gained more traction if he hadn't spent so much of the cash on extravagent holidays. CPS lawyer Jane Mitchell said "it is no coincidence that his largest money transfers took place directly before the cruises he went on with his wife".

Judge Anthony Leonard QC virtually guaranteed Crickmore's entry into the Dodgy Solicitor pack when he said during sentencing that he had "never come across a more dishonest solicitor". High praise indeed. Crickmore, presented with overwhelming evidence, plead guilty to the 16 counts of theft and eight counts of fraud. He has been sentenced to eight years.


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