Jacquelina Olivia Johns (nee Laverick)

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

The Respondent, a former salaried partner and Head of Tax, Trust and Probate, was convicted at Lincoln Crown Court on 22 October 2010 of ten counts of theft and two counts of converting criminal property, having stolen £214,870.06 from client accounts over 3 years and 4 months, including from vulnerable clients for whom she acted as Court of Protection Deputy and from her own grandmother. She was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment with a £60,000 Confiscation Order. The Tribunal found the admitted allegation proved beyond reasonable doubt, finding substantial dishonesty and clear breaches of trust. As her name had already been removed from the Roll, the Tribunal made a direction prohibiting restoration except by Order, and ordered her to pay costs subject to detailed assessment.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Theft committed over a long period (3 years 4 months)
• Over £60,000 taken from vulnerable clients for whom she acted as Court of Protection Deputy
• Deceived her own grandmother, taking almost £150,000
• Carefully targeted files she thought she could get away with
• Destroyed a number of files
• Conduct driven by pure greed under no financial pressure, to fund a lifestyle she could not afford
• Very little, if any, of the stolen money recovered

Mitigating factors:

• Pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and cooperated with the police
• Admitted the allegation before the Tribunal
• Did not seek to make excuses in mitigation
• Personal difficulties in her life between 2001 and 2007 (though held not to excuse the conduct)