Anthony Meyrick Teare

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

The Respondent, a solicitor admitted in 1959 practising on his own account, was convicted in the Crown Court at Manchester on 29 August 2002 of three offences of false accounting under s.17(1)(a) Theft Act 1968 and sentenced to a 100-hour Community Punishment Order. The conviction arose from an arrangement with a client facing possession proceedings; the Respondent received no financial benefit and appeared motivated by a desire to help his client. He admitted the allegation, did not contest the facts, and did not appear at the hearing. The Tribunal declined to look behind the conviction, found the offences were offences of dishonesty constituting conduct unbefitting a solicitor, and ordered him struck off with costs of £998 despite his many years of unblemished service.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Convicted of three offences of dishonesty under the Theft Act
• Public perception of a solicitor convicted of such offences

Mitigating factors:

• Many years of unblemished service since admission in 1959
• Cooperated with the investigation throughout and accepted the facts
• No financial gain; appeared motivated only by a desire to help his client
• Judge accepted he received no financial benefit