Jailed, solicitor who f leeced OAP aunt to keep his f irm af loat
A SOLICITOR who swindled more than £269,000 from his elderly aunt to keep his business afloat was yesterday jailed for eight months.
William Walls, 62, stole the money after being put in charge of Mary Brown’s finances.
Walls, who had been given power of attorney, plundered his aunt’s bank accounts in order to keep his Fife firm afloat for almost nine years but was caught after a Law Society probe into his business and questions raised by his family.
Sentencing Walls, Sheriff Alastair Brown acknowledged that the effect of his conviction would be ‘catastrophic’ but told him he had gone against everything he had been taught as a lawyer.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that in some instances Walls, who was sole partner in McQuittys law firm, in Cupar, had simply gone into a TSB branch in the town to withdraw cash from his aunt’s accounts before walking 100 yards down the street to deposit it in his own RBS branch.
Walls – who gave up his practice in 2013 after being suspended by the Law Society – was formally thrown out of the profession at a hearing last month.
Fiscal depute Joanne Smith told the court yesterday: ‘The accused had power of attorney for his late aunt Mary Brown. He was at the time a practising solicitor. He felt he was an appropriate person to take on the role.
‘Mrs Brown went into a care home in 2005 and from December 12, 2004 on, he had full access to her three TSB bank accounts.
‘During the period libelled, he withdrew from these three accounts a total of £269,150.
‘These were cash withdrawals from a Cupar branch. The accused’s own RBS branch was within walking distance. He would withdraw cash from Mrs Brown’s account and then there would be credits in to his bank account.’
The embezzlement came to light when the Law Society discovered the business – which specialised in property and estate agency – was failing and Walls admitted having used the money to ‘keep matters afloat’. He also told family members what he had done.
Walls, of St Andrews, Fife, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of embezzlement committed between December 7, 2004, and October 10, 2013.
Sheriff Brown said: ‘It would be easy to think of embezzlement as a kind of clean crime compared to, for example, assault and robbery or theft by housebreaking.
‘On the other hand, your apprenticeship overlapped in time with mine and I’m therefore confident that you were taught as I was that a solicitor must not under any
‘Dishonesty was substantial’
circumstances intermingle client funds with his own.
‘Your professional training ought to have ingrained so deeply in you that this must not happen.
‘Accordingly, the breach of trust and the extent of the dishonesty involved in this was very substantial.
‘I recognise you have shown remorse and I recognise the effect of this conviction will be catastrophic but I can’t avoid a custodial sentence.’
The sentence was reduced from a year because of his early guilty plea.
Defence solicitor Simon Collins had argued that Walls should be allowed to walk free.
He told the court: ‘This was borne out of an anxiety of trying to keep this firm afloat.
‘Had he admitted the firm was failing, he could have avoided all of this.
‘He was not acting to fund a lavish lifestyle. The money has all now been paid back.
‘He was not equipped to run the firm and he wasn’t suited to that kind of business.’