David Storry Walton

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

Mr Walton, a solicitor admitted in 1981 and former partner at DWF Law LLP, was convicted in 2023 of intentionally attempting to communicate sexually with a person under 16 for sexual gratification (the recipient being a decoy from a paedophile hunter group). He was sentenced to a Community Order with 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 5 years. He admitted the SRA allegation that this breached Principles 2 and/or 6. The Tribunal, dealing with the matter on the papers via an Agreed Outcome, found the serious nature of the offence warranted striking him off the Roll, and ordered costs of £3,000.

Duties found breached:

• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank

Mitigating factors:

• Full cooperation with the police investigation
• Entered a guilty plea at the first appearance before the Court
• Complied with self-reporting rules to the SRA and cooperated with the investigation throughout
• Attended recognised courses to deal with his issues prior to being charged
• Positive personal references and good character; community and charitable work
• Showed insight and remorse
• Significant delay (four years) in the criminal proceedings not of his making
• Offence involved a decoy, not a genuine child, so no actual victim