Sentley Robert Wilson and Ian Edward Huntingdon
Allegation / charges
Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Two partners of Sentley Wilson Bowen faced allegations of misappropriating/using clients' funds and breaches of the Solicitors Accounts Rules. A forensic investigation revealed a minimum client account shortage of £75,470.36 caused by improper transfers from client to office account (labelled 'fees', 'fees interim' and 'progress fees') without bills being delivered, used to pay wages and running costs. The Tribunal expressly found Mr Wilson dishonest under the Twinsectra test, concluding he knowingly took clients' money to keep the firm afloat, and struck him off. Mr Huntingdon admitted the rule breaches; no dishonesty was alleged against him, but the Tribunal found his abdication of responsibility (turning a blind eye, given his prior disciplinary history) so serious that he too was struck off. Both were ordered to pay costs jointly and severally, subject to detailed assessment, and a £500 compensation award to client JMB was made enforceable as a High Court order.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Dishonest taking of clients' money to keep the firm afloat (Wilson)
- Improper transfers disguised as 'fees', 'fees interim' and 'progress fees' with no bills delivered
- Instructing staff not to correct a duplicated overtransfer
- Mr Huntingdon had a previous disciplinary record (indefinite suspension imposed in 1994) and turned a blind eye
- Mr Huntingdon delayed reporting concerns due to his own financial position
Mitigating factors:
- Mr Huntingdon eventually reported Mr Wilson's activities to The Law Society
- Firm suffering genuine cash flow difficulties after funders collapsed
- Mr Wilson cooperated with the investigation (per his account)
- Transfers made without Mr Huntingdon's knowledge or authority