Anthony Meyrick Teare

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

Anthony Meyrick Teare, a solicitor admitted in 1959, was convicted in August 2002 of three counts of false accounting under Section 17(1)(a) of the Theft Act 1968 and sentenced to a 100-hour Community Punishment Order. The conviction arose from an arrangement with a client facing possession proceedings; he received no financial benefit. The Tribunal held the Theft Act offences were offences of dishonesty and that the conviction amounted to conduct unbefitting a solicitor. Declining to look behind the conviction (he had pleaded guilty and not appealed), the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered him to pay costs of £998.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Convicted of three offences of dishonesty under the Theft Act
• Public perception of a solicitor convicted of such offences
• Sentencing judge noted 'you are a solicitor and you should have known better'

Mitigating factors:

• Many years (since 1959) of unblemished service in the profession
• Cooperated with the investigation throughout and accepted the facts
• No financial gain; appeared motivated only by desire to help his client