Brendan John Salsbury

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

The respondent solicitor was convicted at Croydon Crown Court of obtaining a money transfer by deception, having altered a cheque drawn in his favour from £862.50 to £1,862.50 in his role as clerk to the trustees of a school charity. He was acquitted of 24 other offences and received a 12-month conditional discharge plus £300 costs in the criminal proceedings. He admitted the disciplinary allegation. Although the Tribunal accepted the amended figure was properly due to him and that the offence was not committed in the course of practice, it held that a conviction for dishonesty required the ultimate sanction to protect the profession's reputation, and struck him off the Roll with costs of £1,475.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Conviction for a criminal offence involving dishonesty
• Sentencing judge's comment that it was an offence no solicitor should even contemplate, let alone commit

Mitigating factors:

• Immediate report of the conviction to The Law Society
• Admitted the allegation
• Acquitted of 24 other offences
• Amended figure was properly the sum due to him; level of dishonesty negligible
• Offence not committed in course of practice as a solicitor
• Repaid money to trustees; no civil proceedings commenced
• Considerable personal and professional consequences already suffered (loss of partnership, deputy coroner role, marriage breakdown, loss of earnings)
• Generous man who undertook charitable work; took on too much
• Matters had been hanging over him for some five years