Ellen Margaret Richardson

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

Ellen Margaret Richardson, a legal secretary/solicitor's clerk at John Pickering & Partners (1 Nov 1990 to 10 June 1991), was convicted of theft at Leeds Crown Court on 27 November 1991 and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years, with four further offences taken into consideration. She had stolen approximately £34,000 from the firm, including diverting a £21,600 client payment via an elaborate cover-up. Civil judgment of £30,028.83 plus interest and costs was obtained, of which about £2,879.22 had been recovered. The respondent did not attend or oppose the application. The Tribunal found the (uncontested) allegation substantiated and made the Section 43(2) order. The applicant made no application for costs.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Conviction of theft of approximately £34,000 from the employing firm
• Four other offences taken into consideration
• Elaborate cover-up of the diverted client cheque transaction