Daniel David Pipe

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Daniel David Pipe, a solicitor admitted in 2002, was convicted on 6 September 2021 of attempted sexual communication with a child under 16 (s.15A Sexual Offences Act 2003) after engaging in overtly sexual online communication with an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old boy, sending explicit images and his address. He received a two-year Community Order and five-year notification requirements. He admitted breaches of Principles 2 and 6. The Tribunal found culpability and harm very high and, while acknowledging strong personal mitigation and that public protection was not a significant concern, concluded that only strike off would protect the reputation of the profession. No dishonesty was alleged or found. He was struck off and ordered to pay costs of £7,350.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Commission of a criminal offence which crossed the custody threshold
• Deliberate and calculated conduct over a 90-minute period
• Initiated sexualised conversation, sent explicit images and provided his address after being told 'Josh' was 13
• Communicating with a person he was told was a vulnerable 13-year-old
• Invoked his profession by referring to his work as a lawyer
• Limited insight - cast himself as somewhat the victim and had not fully accepted the seriousness

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings; hitherto unblemished 17-year career
• One-off incident with no repetition in the intervening years
• Self-reported the conviction to the SRA and cooperated with the investigation
• Engaged thoroughly with rehabilitation programme; low risk of repetition
• Strong character references
• No Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed; protection of public not a significant concern