Gabriel Ezeh Gabman

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

Mr Yaakov (formerly Gabriel Ezeh Gabman) applied to be restored to the Roll after being struck off in 2009 following 2008 Croydon Crown Court convictions (two counts of assisting unlawful immigration into EU member states and one count of possession of a false identity document with intent; four years' imprisonment). The Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances to go behind the convictions, which he continued to deny. It found his evidence (two old emails) of no probative value, rejected the vicarious liability argument, and was troubled by his low level of insight. Given the seriousness of the offences and the need to maintain public confidence, the application was refused and he was ordered to pay the SRA's costs of £3,521.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Serious offences following a contested trial resulting in a substantial custodial sentence
• Conviction for facilitating illegal entry into the EU related directly to his work as a solicitor
• Continued denial of guilt with no appeal lodged
• Low level of insight into the convictions

Mitigating factors:

• Efforts to pursue legal studies (LLB, LPC, LLM) since strike-off
• Voluntary pro bono work as a housing adviser and exam invigilator
• No evidence of loss to clients
• No responses to the advertisements from members of the public