Gavin Dowell

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

Gavin Dowell, a solicitor admitted in 1991, was convicted in June 2016 of wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm after head-butting a fellow coach at a children's rugby match, causing life-changing injuries. He failed to report the conviction to the SRA. He also fabricated/backdated an email dated 23 February 2016 falsely representing that he had notified the opposing party of a hearing date, and exhibited it to a witness statement (containing a statement of truth) to mislead the court. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, including dishonesty on both counts under the Ivey test. The Respondent did not attend but had indicated by email he accepted being unfit and sought strike off. The Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £9,102.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• No conflict between current clients
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Conviction for a very serious criminal offence and failure to notify the regulator
• Violent conduct committed in a position of trust as coach/linesman in front of children including his and the victim's sons
• Dishonesty on two occasions - fabricating/backdating the email and attaching it to the witness statement sent to court
• Falsely stated to the SRA that he had not worked in law since conviction when he had signed the witness statement afterwards
• Conduct was deliberate, calculated and repeated
• Ought reasonably to have known his conduct breached obligations to protect the public and profession
• Significant detrimental impact on the victim

Mitigating factors:

• Approximately 27 years as a solicitor with a previously unblemished record
• Accepted the facts of the conviction in limited communication with the SRA