Peter Charles Davies

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

Peter Charles Davies, an assistant solicitor at a firm, was found to have committed nine allegations involving misappropriation of client and estate funds totalling over £290,000, including misappropriating approximately £223,499.01 from a deceased client's Halifax accounts using a lapsed power of attorney, misappropriating funds from multiple estates, and fraudulently creating two Wills to add false beneficiaries. He admitted all allegations and did not attend the hearing. The Tribunal found express dishonesty on all counts under the Twinsectra test. Applying SRA v Sharma, and finding no exceptional circumstances, the Tribunal ordered that he be struck off the Roll of Solicitors and pay costs of £17,000.

Duties found breached:

• Honesty
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct planned and deliberate over a period of over five years
• Motivation to obtain client funds for personal gain
• Abuse of positions of trust including power of attorney continued after client's death
• Created fraudulent Wills and made improper transfers between deceased clients' accounts to conceal wrongdoing
• Experienced solicitor (qualified 1995)
• Caused significant harm to beneficiaries and the reputation of the profession
• Dishonesty found on nine occasions

Mitigating factors:

• Open and frank admissions at an early stage
• Co-operation with the investigating body
• Previously unblemished record