Peter Anthony Dixon & Another

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

Two partners of Dixon Raven & Marsdens faced SAR breaches following an SRA inspection revealing a client account shortage of over £726,000. The First Respondent, Peter Anthony Dixon, was found to have misappropriated client funds and to have acted dishonestly (applying the Twinsectra test) by taking client money to reduce the office overdraft and transferring costs without bills; he was struck off. The Second Respondent, based at another office and ill at the time, was found strictly liable for the SAR breaches, having trusted his partner; he was fined £5,000. Costs of £9,995.54 were apportioned 80% to Dixon and 20% to the Second Respondent.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• Diligence and timeliness
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Minimum cash shortage on client account of £726,399.26
• Payment of substantial broker's fee from client account to a company connected with First Respondent
• First Respondent lied to his partner and pressured the cashier not to disclose the position
• Compensation fund claims totalling £515,364.27 with £401,828.07 paid out

Mitigating factors:

• First Respondent fully cooperative throughout the investigation
• No previous disciplinary record
• Loss of practice, income and standing; financial hardship and ill health
• Second Respondent misplaced trust in his partner while suffering ill health and intending to retire
• Second Respondent admitted allegations on basis of strict/absolute liability
• Second Respondent had reminded partner monthly that a known deficiency needed correction