Christopher John Wood

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

The Respondent, a sole principal admitted in 1983, gave an undertaking to WH Limited to pay £450,000 from the proceeds of sale (or from a £470,000 deposit he claimed to hold as stakeholder). He breached the undertaking, failed to pay despite a High Court order, and the Trustee in Bankruptcy's evidence showed he never actually held the £450,000 in client account. The Tribunal found his 10 May 1999 letter deceitful and misleading, and found all six allegations substantiated (allegations ii-vi admitted, allegation i found to the high standard). With no mitigation and no appearance by the Respondent, he was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,754.95.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Comply with and respect court orders
• Honesty
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Honour professional undertakings

Aggravating factors:

• Very serious allegations all substantiated
• Failed to honour a clear undertaking to a third party
• Falsely stated he held the funds in client account when he did not
• Failed to comply with a Court Order
• No mitigation put forward
• Did not attend or be represented at the hearing