Matthew Charles Curtis

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

Matthew Charles Curtis, admitted 2009, fabricated two documents purporting to be from Companies House and Halton Borough Council, furnished them to his client (the Beechwood West Community Centre) as genuine, and accepted a conditional caution from Cheshire Police (condition: pay GBP 1,000 compensation) for making and supplying an article for use in fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. The Tribunal proceeded in his absence (he chose not to attend). All allegations, including dishonesty, were admitted and found proved beyond reasonable doubt, with the Twinsectra test for dishonesty met. The Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of GBP 3,000 (reduced from GBP 3,817).

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was deliberate, repeated and calculated, continuing over a period of about seven months
• Motivation appeared to be self-preservation
• Acted in breach of a position of trust as the Community Centre's solicitor
• Committed fraud and accepted a conditional caution
• Significant harm - left licensed premises without a licensee; reputational and emotional harm to the Managing Director
• Fairly sophisticated conduct - forged documents
• No apology and no evidence of genuine insight

Mitigating factors:

• Repaid all fees to the Community Centre
• Made open and frank admissions at an early stage
• Co-operated with the investigating body to an extent
• Actions not motivated by personal gain