Gavin Dowell

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

Gavin Dowell, a solicitor admitted in 1991, was convicted in June 2016 of inflicting grievous bodily harm after head-butting a fellow coach during a children's rugby match, causing life-changing injuries, and failed to report the conviction to the SRA. He also fabricated/backdated an email purportedly notifying the opposing party of a hearing date and exhibited it to a witness statement (with statement of truth) submitted to the Court to mislead it. The Tribunal, proceeding in his absence, found all allegations proved, including dishonesty on two occasions under the Ivey test. Finding no exceptional circumstances and high culpability and harm, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £9,102.

Duties found breached:

• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• No conflict between current clients
• No taking unfair advantage
• Not mislead the court
• Self-report to the regulator
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conviction for a serious criminal offence (GBH) and failure to notify regulator
• Violent conduct committed in a position of trust as coach/linesman in front of children
• Dishonesty on two occasions (fabricating the email and exhibiting it to witness statement)
• False statement to SRA that he had not worked in law since conviction, when he signed the witness statement after conviction
• Deliberate, calculated and repeated conduct
• Ought reasonably to have known conduct breached obligations
• Significant detrimental impact on victim Mr S

Mitigating factors:

• Approximately 27 years as a solicitor with a previously unblemished record
• Accepted the facts of the conviction in limited communication with the SRA