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discipline 4 October 2026
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Decision record

Thomas Harland Cadman

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
BodySolicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT)
Professionsolicitor
Case number12449/2023
Date04/09/2023
OutcomeFine

Allegation / charges

Breaches, Criminal Convictions

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

SanctionFine
FineGBP 25,000
CostsGBP 3,600
Dishonesty foundNo

Mr Cadman, a solicitor, was convicted on his guilty plea at Swindon Magistrates' Court of three offences of sexual assault (contrary to s.3 Sexual Offences Act 2003) against two women at a village pub on 29 August 2021. He received a 9-month Community Order, fines and costs in the criminal proceedings. He admitted breaches of Principles 2 and 5 (integrity and maintaining public trust) before the SDT. The Tribunal found the allegations and breaches proved, expressly noting there was no dishonesty. Considering the seriousness of the criminal convictions balanced against strong mitigation (remorse, insight, cooperation, medical evidence, unblemished career, low reassessed risk), the Tribunal imposed a fine of £25,000 and ordered costs of £3,600.

Duties found breached:

Aggravating factors:

  • Convicted of three criminal offences of a sexual nature (sexual assault against two victims)
  • Harm caused to Person A and Person B as set out in their victim impact statements
  • Severe damage to the reputation of the profession

Mitigating factors:

  • No dishonesty and no attempt to conceal conduct or blame others
  • No previous disciplinary findings; previously unblemished career
  • Prompt self-report to the SRA and full cooperation
  • Genuine remorse and demonstrated insight
  • No repeat of misconduct over two years
  • Remedial steps taken (abstinence from alcohol, counselling, mental health support); assessed as low risk by Probation
  • Voluntarily did not renew practising certificate
  • Medical evidence providing context; one-off aberration out of character
  • 14 character testimonials

Duties engaged

Documents

Source: https://solicitorstribunal.org.uk/case/12449/